On Earth Day students from the Kalkaska High School assisted the Kalkaska Substance Free Coalition and The Kalkaska Conservation District (KCD) with replacing the Serenity Tree and spring maintenance, at the Kalkaska Substance Free Coalition's Serenity Garden. The garden sits just outside of the Rocking Horse Arena, on West Kalkaska Road, along the KART Trail. The new tree, a baby blue eyes spruce, was gifted to the Kalkaska Substance Free Coalition by the KCD after the previous tree, also donated by the KCD, started to look unhealthy. Students learned both how to transplant a tree and about the history of the Serenity tree and what it represents. The Serenity Garden, with its Serenity Tree, is a special place for the community to remember those lost all too soon to substance use and overdose. Substance use disorder is all too often stigmatized and the Kalkaska Coalition wants to remind its community that each person is someone's loved one and each person should be remembered for who they were, not the disease they lived with.
A huge thank you to the KCD for partnering with this coalition, and the support and encouragement its staff always provides when needed.
