FedEx Employees Roll up Sleeves for New Moon Rain Garden

The plan for Thursday was simple: “It’s clearing, digging and planting,” said spokesman David Westrick, after shoveling a pile of earth around a newly planted tree in front of the on Beaver Grade Road.

Westrick and nearly 40 other FedEx employees from the international corporation’s Moon hub spent Thursday working in the sun, planting a newly designed rain garden that soon will feature the township’s

With the help of the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania and a $90,000 National Fish and Wildlife Foundation grant, the local FedEx employees, dug, mulched and planted through the sunny June day, installing three 20-by-60-foot landscaped islands between the township's municipal and public safety buildings.

“It’s green infrastructure at its best,” said Jim Bonner, executive director of the Aubudon Society of Western Pennsylvania.

Bonner and other Audubon Society representatives coordinated the event, prepping FedEx employees on the finer points of installing a rain garden.

"There are aesthetic benefits to this, but with the garden we aim to mimic nature's approach to filtering rain water,” Bonner said.

The garden will absorb rainwater runoff from Beaver Grade Road and the buildings' parking lots, allowing it to filter through the garden's plants and into the ground. Each of the plants are indigenous to Western Pennsylvania.

By managing rainwater overflow, the gardens can help prevent overwhelming community sewage systems, which can lead to overflow into rivers and creeks, Bonner said.

When completed, the garden will feature a stone walkway made of porous brick, park benches and a newly mounted 9/11 memorial crafted from a

"It's important that we do things like this because FedEx is a huge, international company, but we work right here. Moon is our community," Westrick said.  

FedEx plans annual environmentally friendly service projects in the Greater Pittsburgh area that employees can take part in, he said.

Besides providing residents with an eco-friendly place to visit, the garden may provide more practical implications for the township, said Bonner.

"You know if you're trying to bring developers into the community and get them to take part in these types of green infrastructure, this is a good way to actually show them how it works," he said. "And it's much more attractive then just a retention pond."