Growing Our Impact on Arbor Day
At UMC, we care about our community. From blood drives to food drives, fundraisers and volunteer time – we do our best to make a difference and make an impact. Recently in honor of Arbor Day, a team of UMC volunteers came together to continue our long-standing tradition of planting trees.
The tradition started with our Founder and original Owner, Terry Tomann, who had a passion for planting. It is estimated that Terry has been involved with planting over 40,000 trees in his lifetime! In fact, Terry planted every tree on UMC’s property. About twenty years ago, Terry began supplying seedlings to UMC employees to plant as they please. “He believed and he taught us that it’s very important to give back at whatever level you can, no matter where you’re at or what you’re doing. You can always give back. Planting trees was his way of giving back,” stated Don Tomann, Terry’s son who is the current CEO and Owner of UMC.
After Terry’s passing in 2014, the UMC Event Committee led an effort to ensure the tree planting tradition carried on in his memory. Since 2015, we’ve come together every year in honor of Arbor Day to plant trees in our community for the city of Monticello. “The people that work here care about the community and they care about each other. Whether we’re planting trees or collecting food for the food shelf, they’re always willing to chip in and give donations or their time. I’m always impressed with the number of people that step up,” concluded Brad Cross, Director of Quality Services at UMC.