Goodbye and Good Luck!

​One of the founding staff of Worcester Tree Initiative has said goodbye to our organization and to Worcester itself. Peggy Middaugh, who has been here since the beginning of Worcester Tree Initiative, is moving back to the land of her roots, New Jersey, to be close to her family.  She was director of the Worcester Tree Initiative for 6 years, transitioned into Development Director for 1 year, and now has moved on. ​

Peggy speaks with residents about WTI in 2009

Peggy has become an established public figure in Worcester over the past 20 years. Her fingerprints can be found on many projects but she is most well known for her work as the Executive Director of REC for 11 years.  For the past 7 years she has been leading Worcester Tree Initiative. In these roles Peggy has shown that she knows what it takes to get things done. She connected with people from all over the city from City Hall to grass roots organizations and she forged relationships with can do people ready to work to make a difference.
 
Her time with the Tree Initiative is a perfect example of this. An executive order from Congressman James P McGovern and then Lieutenant Governor Timothy Murray came down to start an immediate effort to replace trees lost in the Asian Longhorned Beetle eradication effort. Peggy, along with Paul Belsito (Co-Director 2009-10), stepped up to the plate to spearhead the replanting effort. They began the free tree giveaway program in April of 2009 where people from the infested area could come to pick a tree, learn how to plant it, and take it home with them. Peggy saw us through the vision of getting 30,000 trees planted in 5 years in partnership with Mass DCR and the City of Worcester’s Forestry Department. She also started the Young Adult Foresters program to get the new street trees watered and provide summer jobs to at risk youth.

Peggy managed to do all of these things with the support of long established relationships and the support of eager new partners that seemed to be found at every turn. She truly appreciated the need to have a team and the support of the community to see the mission through.

Peggy at Family Health Center, for which she served on the board, at the planting of the memorial tree for Wally Tillman.

All of her work also speaks to her underlying passion, her passion for the city. Peggy believes in Worcester and has worked tirelessly for its betterment, striving alongside an extensive group of likeminded individuals. She actively participated in civic life, attending city council meetings, sitting in at hearings on development projects, and always sure to vote and encourage others to do the same.

​Over the course of the past year and a half Peggy has slowly been saying goodbye to this city, tying up various loose ends yet staying engaged to the last day. She helped to transition her long time co-worker, Ruth Seward, into the Executive Director role at Worcester Tree Initiative and helped to cast the new vision of stewardship of the urban forest. Now that she has moved, she is no longer part of the WTI crew but she will remain a close friend and advisor. We hope that you will wish her well on this next step in her journey and be sure to direct your future tree questions and concerns to Ruth or Derek.
 
Goodbye for now Peggy, and good luck! We look forward to seeing you again soon.