ECONOTES : TreePeople Repay ‘Rootsy Support’

Ed Begley Jr. was master of ceremonies, and Chevrolet’s energy-efficient Geo won the first “For EverGreen” award at TreePeople’s sixth “Evening Under the Harvest Moon” benefit. The event at TreePeople’s rustic compound in Coldwater Canyon Park, featuring Western music and vegetarian chili, reflected the environmental group’s successful eco-celebrity balancing act.

Co-chairs were Hollywood’s David Zucker, Marshall Herskovitz and Dan Pearlman. And the evening’s focus, a fund-raiser auction, combined an inventive range of environmentally correct gift baskets--organic fruits or recycled paper products--with show business dazzle. Kip Gilman, co-star of “Nurses,” auctioned off walk-on parts for “Cheers,” “Coach,” “Nurses” and “Murphy Brown.”

TreePeople founders Katie and Andy Lipkis thanked their volunteers for their ongoing “rootsy support” and reported that the evening raised more than $225,000.

It will help keep L.A. green, training neighborhood groups that want to restore their environment by planting trees. Last year TreePeople Citizen Foresters and volunteers planted more than 53,000 trees in the Los Angeles area, helping to clean smoggy air, stave off heat and wind and soothe residents with natural beauty.