KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — Keep Knoxville Beautiful and Trees Knoxville held one of seven tree planting events Saturday morning.

The two non-profits are partnering to hold seven planting events throughout the winter, which are being funded by a state grant from the Tennessee Agricultural Enhancement Program (TAEP).

At the event Saturday, volunteers planted 20 trees and helped pick up litter.

Dale Madden, chair of Trees Knoxville, said they hold around a dozen planting events each year, teaming up with different local businesses and non-profits. Around 100 volunteers came to the event Saturday.

“I think we’ve had a record number of volunteers come out this year in particular, and we’ve seen a little more popularity about our programs and our tree planting events. Also, with the end of COVID we’ve had more people wanting to come out and volunteer their time and just be outside and enjoy,” Madden said.

Madden said people should know the benefits of planting trees aside from improving the city’s scenery.

“We’re giving some educational advice about how to plant trees properly and why it’s important, and how we can use these to help reduce our heat island effect, defragment our canopy around town and provide cleaner air for our citizens,” Madden said.

The group has three more TAEP planting events planned, and then they will kick off their Canopies for Canvases campaign, where they will plant trees on various local school campuses.