Growing Community Roots with FirstEnergy’s Mountain State Forest Festival Tree Giveaway

Imagine watching your neighborhood grow greener, one sapling at a time. That’s the vision that inspired FirstEnergy’s Mon Power Green Team to donate 800 trees at this year’s Mountain State Forest Festival in Elkins, where families, friends and neighbors gathered to bring new life to their communities. Thanks to the Green Team’s support, hundreds of festivalgoers went home with young trees – and the chance to make a lasting difference right in their own backyards.

The Green Team’s employee volunteers – who regularly support local green projects – distributed a variety of trees at the October festival, including pin oak, sycamore, redbud and flowering dogwood. These varieties are well-suited to West Virginia’s climate, support local wildlife and enhance the natural beauty of the region while contributing to stronger, healthier ecosystems.

“The Mountain State Forest Festival is the perfect place for a large tree giveaway,” said Jessica Shaffer, an Advanced Scientist at FirstEnergy who leads the company’s tree-planting initiative. “It celebrates the vital role natural resources play in West Virginia’s heritage and economy. Hearing stories from attendees about trees they’ve planted in past years – and how well they’re growing – is incredibly rewarding.”

The giveaway is part of FirstEnergy’s broader goal to plant or donate 25,000 trees in 2025. So far this year, approximately 24,734 trees have found homes in parks and nature reserves across the company’s service area. These efforts reflect FirstEnergy’s commitment to reducing its carbon footprint, promoting responsible resource use and advancing sustainability.

In addition to the tree giveaway, Mon Power pitched in to help with the festival’s popular Lumberjack Contest at Davis & Elkins College. The $7,500 in-kind donation involved crews, trucks and equipment to help set up the logs for the event.

“It’s inspiring to see how much our community values environmental stewardship, and to see how excited these kids and teenagers are to pick out a tree is amazing,” said Shaffer. “Each tree we give away helps keep West Virginia beautiful for future generations.”