Saluting Branches volunteers perform tree work at Iowa Veterans Home Wednesday (original) (raw)

T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY Arborists and volunteers with Saluting Branches performed tree work on the Iowa Veterans Home campus Wednesday. Also pictured at right are Commandant Todd Jacobus and IVH Maintenance Repair Supervisor Dave McLeland.

The residents and staff of the Iowa Veterans Home got a special visit from a dedicated group of arborists and volunteers who put in a day of work on the campus Wednesday with Saluting Branches, a nonprofit organization that seeks to “honor and assist veterans by providing tree care services at national cemeteries and other veteran properties.”

In partnership with IVH Maintenance Repair Supervisor Dave McLeland, who identified 40 trees in need of removal, the volunteers, many of whom are tree care professionals in Iowa themselves, got to work at around 8 a.m. after a quick safety briefing and a welcome from Commandant Todd Jacobus.

Saluting Branches Organizer/Host Dawna Deakins said they had previously done work at the Iowa Veterans Cemetery in Van Meter, but when an IVH employee reached out about hosting the annual event here, it seemed like a great fit. Thus, Saluting Branches has made the Marshalltown campus its destination for the last several years, and this time, it was one of 100 locations chosen across all 50 U.S. states, Puerto Rico and Mexico.

“This happened to be a location that had a significant need for tree removal from all the dead ashes, and they have a huge property here. So we didn’t choose it. It was available to us, and then we had a lot of local arborists that were absolutely on board,” Deakins said. “Saluting Branches is the largest one-day event in arbor culture.”

The work they do, which ran until about 2:30 p.m. and included a lunch break to meet with residents, isn’t strictly confined to removal of dead or diseased trees. Saluting Branches volunteers also completed pruning, elevation, mulching and stump grinding during the day, and McLeland noted that these are services IVH would otherwise hire out and pay for — therefore, it provides a major cost savings benefit for the facility.

“This is huge for us — not only the cost savings part of it, but just to help keep our campus looking beautiful all the time,” McLeland said. “The cost saving is huge because we can utilize the funds we’d normally utilize for that for other projects.”

And for Jacobus, it’s another great reminder of all of the support IVH receives both locally and across the state.

“It’s a great opportunity for us to, number one, meet this group of professionals and give them an opportunity to serve on our campus, meet our veterans. They’re gonna have lunch with veterans today, and I guarantee there’s gonna be people very happy to see them,” he said.

One of the Saluting Branches volunteers, George Toubekis, has been the mayor of University Park for 16 years and served with Jacobus in the Iowa Army National Guard, with the commandant describing him as “the standard bearer” for non-commissioned officers. All in all, Deakins said, the annual day of service is full of fun for everyone involved — especially the opportunity to have lunch with the veterans and give back to them through their professional talents.

“The arborists, they absolutely love coming to this day. For one, they get to work alongside each other, and this location is really special because we always see veterans that are sitting outside watching us, and we get to kind of see them eye to eye,” she said. “So it makes this a real personal connection where we’re not just working in a cemetery, but we’re working on behalf of the veterans that served our community that we get to see live and in person.”

To learn more about the organization, visit https://www.salutingbranches.org.

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Contact Robert Maharry at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.