Canopy, the NGO that has maintained and expanded Palo Alto's urban forest, celebrated its 15th anniversary - Palo Alto, CA

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Canopy, the nonprofit organization that has maintained and expanded Palo Alto's urban forest, celebrated its 15th anniversary with a successful dinner benefit on May 1 at the Palo Alto Elks Lodge.

Canopy Executive Director Catherine Martineau, present board chairwoman Susan Ellis and past chairwoman Susan Rosenberg welcomed 200 guests to the inspiring event, "It's Our Nature! Bringing nature nearby, one tree at a time." The title matched the theme of keynote speaker Richard Louv's new book "The Nature Principle: Human Restoration and the End of Nature Deficit Disorder."

It was an evening of firsts: The first benefit at the Elks Club; Louv's first stop on a 15-city tour for his new book and singer/songwriter Nancy Cassidy's world premiere of her new song, "In My Tree."

Canopy's programs have carried out Louv's call to "bring trees and nature into our urban environments" with tree plantings, tree-care workshops, neighborhood tree walks, urban forestry workshops, a partnership with the Trees for El Camino campaign, and completion of the Trees for East Palo Alto planting initiative.