ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — Restoring beauty around Rochester one tree at a time is the goal of a partnership between the city and a group of young volunteers.

Wednesday, 10 trees were planted in Rochester’s Norton Village Park as part of a collaboration between city leaders and a group called Asez Wao. It’s made up of young volunteers and affiliated with the World Mission Society Church of God. They say the goal is to plant trees in areas of need throughout the city, helping to reduce greenhouse gases and improve the city’s heating zone. Leaders we spoke with credit their volunteers for the success of this mission.

“Having it done through volunteers is even more awesome because we are as strong as our volunteers are here in the City of Rochester, so we want to really thank them and wait until hopefully winter will be over soon, and with spring, we can come back and check out these trees so we’re super excited about that,” said Rochester Director of Neighborhood Service Centers Daisy Rivera Algarin.

This tree planting initiative is all part of Rochester’s 2024 plan to help improve the city.