Tampa Center Works for a Greener Tomorrow

Tampa Center Works for a Greener Tomorrow

(ANS – Tampa, Fla. – September 15, 2022) – Mary Help of Christians Center in Tampa has joined the Don Bosco Green Alliance. Over 130 new trees were planted across Mary Help of Christians Center’s 140-acre property in Tampa to answer Pope Francis’s call in his encyclical Laudato Si’ to care for the planet.

MHCC’s proactive initiative is part of the Don Bosco Green Alliance thru which efforts are made for environmental improvements at local Salesian works across the world. The MHCC campus opened in 1928 as an orphanage for boys staffed by the Salesians of Don Bosco. The property now contains a parish, a high school, summer camp facilities, and a retreat center. The goal is to evangelize and educate all people, especially those who are young and in need. 

Students and administrators are now on a mission to improve the grounds and create a culture of caring for creation in large and small ways. Fr. Franco Pinto, SDB, director of MHCC, says that although he will never see the trees fully grown, he is happy future generations will be able to benefit from them.

“I may never see the fruits of my labor, but I did not plant these trees for myself. There’s a beauty in the charity that comes from an act of love like this for our young people, not just from me, but from everyone at Mary Help, and where love and charity are, there God also is,” he said. “We want our young people to know that we love and care for them and their futures.”

Some of the benefits provided by the new trees include shade for the structures on campus, creating a cooler interior environment, as well as more oxygen and less carbon dioxide, which creates better air quality.

In addition to the trees, the campus has pledged to replace foam coffee cups with paper cups that are unbleached, recyclable, and eco-friendly, and they’re working to replace all lights with LED lighting. “Although these are just a few changes, we will continually respond to future environmental needs as part of creating a better and greener tomorrow,” said Fr. Pinto.

“We not only strive to show our young people that we love them, but we also want to inspire them to love their neighbors and their environment in the same way. We want them to be aware that their surroundings are a gift,” said Terrie Caldevilla, director of communications at Cristo Rey Tampa Salesian High School, one of the presences on the MHCC campus.