Pamela Cruz. Peninsula 360 Press [P360P].
About 50 tree covers made by residents of the Old Palo Alto neighborhood, along with hundreds of messages of gratitude and hope, have given new life to two trees here under the "Gratitude Trees" project.
The intervention is an effort of community residents Connie Chuang, David Peng and Debra Cen, who wanted to honor the frontline health care workers, teachers and essential workers who have risked their own lives to help others during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Notably, the trees have been decorated since 2012, when a resident began decorating them nearly every month for the holidays starting on Halloween. While a sign posted at the site encourages people to add their own unused masks and write their own messages on the trees at Bryant Street and Lowell Avenue.
"I thought decorating these two famous trees in our neighborhood would be a great way to honor tradition and show love and care during the pandemic. So we teamed up to start the project," according to Debra Cen.
For his part, Chuang, who claims to have been skeptical of the use of face masks at the beginning of the pandemic, but who is the creator of several of the masks, points out that the joint work of the community has become something artistic, meaningful, bright and joyful, with positive intentions to promote art, community health and solidarity.
The messages that people have left reflect hope, gratitude, although they are also a tribute to the human losses: "Your life was marked by joy: go enjoy your coffee, a walk, your family", one of them reads.
The masks are also continually changing, as some people have taken them off and have had to keep replacing them. Although there have also been many others who have added their own masks.
