Lehighton Shade Tree Commission members had help again this year with spreading their tree planting mission.

To start off this year's projects, they enlisted the help of Lehighton Boy Scout Troop 82 to help bag 150 seedlings which were presented to Lehighton Area Middle School students to take home to plant.Boy Scouts used hand shovels and then their hands to mix soil in a wheel barrow. Next they set up an assembly line of workers near Trinity Lutheran Church to fill each of the bags with soil and stuck the trees into the soil and tied the bags shut with rubber bands.The Shade Tree Commission had always done this part of the project themselves, working late into the evening to be ready for the next days.The Boy Scouts put their youthful energy into the project and with the number of boys involved and their dedication to the project, it was done in less than an hour.Mark Hoffman, chairman of the Lehighton Shade Tree Commission, said, "This is great to see the boys involved in this project. The Shade Tree Commission also had help with sponsoring the cost of the seedlings by PPL, who has had a great working relationship the Commission. This partnership has helped Lehighton to continue to be designated a Tree City USA for 20 years."After the tree seedlings were bagged, they were distributed to the students during the annual Arbor Day program at the environmental center at the Lehighton Area Middle School on Friday.PPL has sponsored the trees and seedlings at the Middle School for the past nine years.