| Neighborhood Forest is a program that our friend Vikas started 12 years ago to give trees to children to plant. Vikas has done work in Waupaca with his business, Key Hubs. We are happy to help spread of the new Neighborhood Forest growth spurt and need for additional support to fund giving more trees to children. Please read on to hear Vikas’s story in his own words. We have some very exciting news to share as we enter our 12th annual free tree giveaway. I know it has been a tough and unfathomable 12 months for the entire world. A couple of years ago, even before all the craziness, we thought about calling it quits. Things were hard. Things were not moving as we expected. We wondered if our efforts were really making a difference. Then, we started to get photos like this: |
| And, we were like, “we can’t give up now!” I am so glad we didn’t give up because something wonderful and amazing is happening – right now. In the past few weeks, we have experienced an incredible, unprecedented, and exhilarating surge of interest in our program, thanks to a small and unassuming library in Michigan! In the first 11 years of our program, we grew from serving 4 schools in Minneapolis to 150 schools in 14 states – about 10-15 new schools per year. It was a fairly slow and steady growth over one decade. In the past few weeks, we have nearly tripled – adding 250 new institutions – now serving over 400 organizations in 30 states!! Here’s how it happened… Three weeks ago, Tamarack District Library in Lakeview, Michigan got wind of our program and asked if they could also participate – they wanted to give trees to the kids they serve. We had never had a request like this before and even though it was out of the ordinary, we thought, why not? What difference does it make whether we reach kids through schools or libraries? They signed up and became the first library in the nation to offer trees to kids via Neighborhood Forest. They were super excited about this and shared our program with a coop of libraries that they are a part of. Within a day or so, we had 5 libraries signed up in Michigan. Then, they shared our program in a Library Programming group on Facebook and we essentially went viral – doubling the number of organizations we were serving – in just a few days! Holy tree roots! Below is the growing list of libraries, schools, and youth groups that have signed up since Tamarack changed the course of our destiny! (By the way, we’ve given out Tamarack trees in the past, so this is just so fitting!) It was all very unexpected, thrilling, and a bit overwhelming. This was the moment we had been waiting for all these years. The moment when people would be clamoring from all over to give trees to kids. We now have the demand for trees we’ve been hoping for and we need to meet it with adequate fundraising. Obviously, this was a growth spurt we hadn’t really planned for. Our program runs through the generosity of our amazing sponsors: https://www.neighborhoodforest.org/our-sponsors/ It costs us about $5 per tree or child. Consider for a moment, that the average American family creates an annual carbon footprint that is equivalent to what 75 trees sequester in their lifetime. So, for about a dollar a day, Neighborhood Forest can offset a family’s carbon footprint by planting trees through the hands of children – now, tens of thousands of children! Our sponsorship levels are as follows: One Child $5 – 1 free tree for a child Carbon Neutral Individual $75 – 1 year carbon neutrality for one person (15 free trees) Carbon Neutral Family $375 – 1 year carbon neutrality for your family (75 free trees) Maple $950 – 1 school / library (200 free trees) Oak $2,500 – 3 schools / libraries (500 free trees) Sequoia $4,950 – 8 schools / libraries (1,000 free trees) Forest Builder $25,000 – 50 schools / libraries (5,000 free trees) We can receive payment via Venmo or PayPal (or check) and we can provide a tax-deductible receipt if desired. |
| Would you or someone you know (an individual, business, or organization) be interested in supporting us this year, given the wonderful, unexpected surge in participation? Every little bit helps! Feel free to spread the word! Did you plant a tree with your child through our program? Is your child’s tree still alive? Please send us a current photo of it with your child(ren) – we love collecting “then and nows” of the kids and their trees. Thank you so much! ~ Happy Spring ~ Warmly, Vikas |