Spotlight on Beth Kiley: Dedicated Mother & Volunteer

We met Beth Kiley in 2021 under the saddest of circumstances: she had just lost her 33 year old son during the COVID lockdown and wanted to plant trees in his memory.

Beth’s son, Tommy Lloyd-Davies, led a brief but spectacular life. Tommy was known for his warmth, humor and passion for the outdoors. He studied Environmental Science at Santa Clara University but ended up as a Tech Marketing manager based out of Truckee. He was an accomplished outdoorsman who had climbed El Capitan in Yosemite numerous times, mountaineered in Switzerland, skied in Japan, surfed and climbed in Central America and rock climbed above the Arctic Circle in Norway. He had also collected tree canopy samples in Costa Rica among his many, many other adventures.

Above all, Tommy was kind, funny, smart and made everyone feel like they were his best friend. He lived on the edge and inspired everyone he met to live boldly and with humor. He introduced many friends to the wonders of the great outdoors.

After Tommy’s tragic death, Beth was inspired to plant as many trees as possible to commemorate her remarkable son. When she learned of our work in Tahoe, she not only found the perfect fit for memorial donations, but she became impassioned to promote planting trees on a broader scale. Beth started by reaching out to her family and friends, but this grew into tabling at community events near her home in Newport Beach, CA and networking with her local county officials and Orange County airport to plant trees to offset carbon emissions.

Not only does Beth want to raise money to sponsor planting 100,000 trees within her lifetime, she wants to help change peoples' gift giving habits so that they give trees for birthdays and other occasions. As she says, "Much better to improve the planet than add dumb things that end up in landfills. For me, the thought of so many trees being planted with Love as the fertilizer adds something worthwhile to the world."

We admire how Beth has transformed her terrible loss into a meaningful mission to help heal herself and green the planet.

We were fortunate to meet Beth in person last spring when she came all the way from Southern California to Truckee to plant with us. We loved her positivity, strength and good humor! She brought a little hand-made "Zumba" sign and took pictures with her seedlings that she could share with her Zumba friends who had donated to the Sugar Pine Foundation in Tommy's memory.

Most recently, we had an influx of donations on what would have been Tommy's 36th birthday on March 18, 2023. With each year that goes by, Beth's tally of "Trees for Tommy" grows and we are proud to be planting in his honor.

To date, Beth has raised money for over 11,000 trees to  be planted around the world through One Tree Planted and in Tahoe by the Sugar Pine Foundation.

If you want to help Beth's cause - or follow her lead by gifting trees for someone else in your life - it's easy to contribute on our Donate page! 

We've been listening to supporters like Beth and other donors so that it's very easy to dedicate an acre, a tree or a donation of any amount to a loved one.