Kinder Campus Ribbon Cutting Ceremony
Our Taking Root Capital Campaign is in Full Swing
Our permanent campus on 1.5 acres in Houston’s Oak Forest area featuring an onsite tree nursery, office space and an education center is taking root. The move greatly expands our capacity to distribute more trees to constituents and to provide educational programming for both children and adults.
The Kinder Campus will feature the Kirksey Family Office Building, Bauer Education Center and Chevron Tree Nursery. The development of the campus is underway and slated for completion in late spring 2023.
Trees for Houston’s goal is to increase distribution and planting to 100,000 trees within the next five years. This project is essential to achieving this goal. In addition to accommodating more trees, the Kinder Campus will provide Trees For Houston with the facilities it needs to better engage on-site volunteers and provide enriching educational opportunities for local school districts and community members through the Bauer Education Center. The campus has been designed by Kirksey Architecture and Lauren Griffith Associates, with Forney Construction as the contractor. These groups are working with Trees For Houston to bring these visions to life.
Trees For Houston Kinder Campus Groundbreaking
On April 13th, 2022, Trees For Houston broke ground on the Kinder Campus with 125 people in attendance, including major donors, board members, staff, city, county and state officials and other invited stakeholders. As attendees gathered for coffee and light bites from Snooze Eatery, members of Waltrip High School’s Ram Band kicked off the festivities with upbeat jazz tunes.
The ceremony, presented against a backdrop of trees signifying the future tree nursery, included remarks by Trees For Houston Executive Director Barry Ward, Kinder Foundation Chairman Rich Kinder, Taking Root co-chairs Sheila Condon and Larry Nettles, City of Houston Planning Director Margaret Wallace Brown, TFH Board President Kristopher Stuart and TFH Chairman Laura Mayer, in addition to State Sen. John Whitmire, who is a graduate of Waltrip High School. T
he event kicked off the start of construction with plans to open in early 2023! Trees For Houston is thankful to all of our donors and supporters who helped us reach this milestone. Check out the video below to see a snapshot of that historic morning. Stay tuned for additional construction progress updates!
In the News
Campaign Co-Chairs
Sheila Condon
Larry Nettles
Campaign Cabinet
Doug Bauer
Sara Dodd
Mack Fowler
David R. Graham
Laura Mayer
Andrew McCullough
Vivie O’Sullivan
Lou Waters
Building Design Committee
Sheila Condon
John Cutler
Tom Flaherty
David R. Graham
Olive Hughes
Barton Kelly
David Ott, Jr.
Rhett Rentrop
Kristopher Stuart
Glenn Woo