Author: neighborhoodforest

Important Information About Your Trees!

Posted on April 25, 2019 by vnarula

Dear Parents,

Happy Earth Day (and Week)!  Your tree is coming (if it has not already)!

Thank you for registering to receive and plant a free tree with your child(ren) through Neighborhood Forest!

You are part of a coordinated national tree planting initiative that will involve close to 7000 families across North America!

Important Information About Your New Tree

Trees are being shipped to schools this week and will be brought home with your child(ren) by Thursday or Friday this week.

Please keep your tree refrigerated and roots damp until planted!

Most of you will be receiving an Eastern Red Cedar tree.  Below is information about your new tree and some simple planting instructions.

The eastern redcedar grows to a height of 40–50′ and a spread of 8–20′ at maturity and grows at a medium rate, with height increases of 13–24″ per year.

Redcedars are unusually long-lived, with the potential to live over 900 years. The oldest tree reported, from West Virginia, is 940 years old!

Full sun is the ideal condition for this tree, meaning it should get at least six hours of direct, unfiltered sunlight each day.

Redcedar foliage provides nesting and roosting cover for sparrows, robins, mockingbirds, juncos, and warblers.

The eastern redcedar is an ancient tree, dating back to aboriginal America.

Want to thank us?

Please send us pictures of your kids with the trees!  We love seeing the smiling kids with their trees, especially when they are planted.

We are celebrating our 10th year of giving away free trees and we are starting to collect “then and now” photos of the kids and their trees (see below).  We would love to collect more!

These pictures keep us inspired and motivated – please share the joy! You can post them on our Facebook page.

We are ever so grateful for your participation in our program.

It would not be possible without dedicated parents, children, schools, coordinators, volunteers, and sponsors.

Thank you for making this spring season extra special!

Celebrating 10 Years of Neighborhood Forest

March 24, 2019 by vnarula

We are celebrating 10 years of Neighborhood Forest this spring! What we are really celebrating is our Earth, the beautiful trees, our children, and the magic of planting and watching trees grow.

Now that we have been around a decade, we are starting to harvest and gather inspiring “then and now” photos of the kids with their trees (see below).

These photos and stories are bringing us joy and inspiration and giving us the much-needed soul fuel to keep going and growing.

If you have a “then and now” (or even now) photo, which you would like to share, please feel free to share directly on our Facebook page.

It would make our 10th anniversary that much more special.

Since 2010, Neighborhood Forest has reached over 100 schools, 60,000 families, and planted over 30,000 (mostly residential and urban) trees through the hands of children and parents across America and Canada.

When we see these photos of kids with their trees, we are inspired to reach even more schools and children. We would like to reach every child in North America and, eventually, the world.

We are looking for ideas, resources, sponsors, and partners to help us get there. We are looking to invest in our website, back-end technology, and logistics platform to help us scale our operation to reach as many children as possible.

We appreciate and welcome your support!

Investment to plant an urban tree through the hands of a child and their parents via Neighborhood Forest:
$2-$10

Health, environmental, and economic benefits from one urban tree over its lifetime:
$30,000-$70,000

Getting to plant and watch a tree grow from seedling to maturity:
Priceless

Thank you for working with us all these years to make this an incredibly rewarding and heart-warming experience that will continue to pay dividends for decades to come.

A New Year and A New Beginning

Posted on January 31, 2019 by vnarula

We’re a month into the New Year, and that means resolutions have been made, and some have already been abandoned. It means we’ve contemplated the past year, and considered changes for this one to come. It means we have new hopes, dreams, and aspirations.

Hopes, dreams, and aspirations sometimes change, but I’ve always loved nature. I’ve always believed our Earth to be an extension of ourselves, and we of it. So of course I love trees, and I feel honored to have to joined Neighborhood Forest this year.

During my research to learn more about trees, I learned a tree goes through a life cycle much like a human’s (including birth, infancy, adolescence, teen, adulthood, and maturity). This fact was eye opening for me. I’ve always felt trees were somewhat majestic. Now, I see trees as unique beings, that provide us clean air and oxygen, shade us from the sun, and are home to so many other kinds of life. I also see that every tree is special, just like every person. Isn’t it a beautiful thing we get to share that wonder with children, our neighbors and future generations?

This new year your resolutions don’t have to be huge or nearly unattainable. What are you grateful for, thankful for, even if it’s something small? Even if it’s something as small as a tree seedling. I’m grateful that I get to share my love of nature with children and our communities. My resolution is to share that love as far and wide as I can this year. What are you going to go?

If you would like to join in on the Neighborhood Forest mission, and share your love of nature with school children, giving them free trees for Earth Day and teaching them about community, consider becoming a sponsor or contact us to find out how you can help. Let’s grow this New Year into a better future together:)

-Tiffany

It’s Unofficially Officially Spring!

Posted on April 23, 2018 by vnarula

Happy Earth Week!

Spring is here! We’ve been waiting to say these three words with an exclamation mark for a while. We didn’t know when we could say them out loud. Officially, we could have said them 32 days ago, but many people wouldn’t have heard us. That’s because they were wearing earmuffs and hats that cover their ears. You need to stay warm when you’re digging yourself out of six foot snow drifts.

Now, 32 days later, the not-so-official announcement that spring has truly arrived has arrived. We’re making a prediction. We’re not meteorologists, but we have been outside. We also have weather apps. We’ve seen the snow melting. The temperatures hit a tropical 60 degrees in Minnesota, and we realize it’s almost May. It’s a safe bet that spring is here to stay. Of course, we’re not 100 percent certain. We got fooled two weeks ago with a blizzard and one foot of snow.

Who says that humans are the only ones with a sense of humor?

Like our official announcement of spring, we’re also announcing the kick off our tree giveaway, which will be happening at schools and communities across the US this week! If you signed-up to receive a tree with your child this week, thank you for joining us.

So yes, the time has finally come. It’s time to pack away our parkas, scarves, earmuffs, woolen hats, mitts and other winter paraphernalia to the attic. It’s time to replace the snow shovels with garden shovels. It’s time to roll up our sleeves and get our hands dirty again.

Tree planting season is back. And spring is finally, officially, we-really-think-so-this-time, absolutely here!

It's Finally Spring!

We’re in the Home Stretch!

Posted on April 5, 2017 by vnarula

Spring has sprung!

That’s right. In just a few weeks, the tree giveaway will be happening at schools and communities across the US (and even in parts of Canada!).

Did you register for a tree this year? Awesome! You’re all set.

Slipped your mind? Forgot to tie that string on your finger? That’s okay. You’ve earned your good karma points. You still have a chance to register for a tree until Sunday, April 9 even if your school’s deadline has passed.

Is your child’s school participating this year? Can’t remember? You can find out here. Don’t see your child’s school on the list? That’s okay too. You can sign up here. (Make sure you do this on a tablet, laptop or desk computer.)

Spring may be the season for tree planting, but there’s some “family members” that haven’t been feeling the tree hugging love.

You might know one or two. We know one. Surprised how we overlooked him. He loves to dig. He loves dirt and after fire hydrants trees are his best friend. If anyone was a natural at tree planting (or tree wetting!), it’s him!

So rather than feeling left out this year, he took the initiative. We still don’t know how he learned to type. But that’s for another day.

Right now it’s time to exhale, lift our heads up and stretch towards Earth Day. As you enjoy this spring season with its blossoming flowers, blue skies and warmer weather, remember to keep your umbrellas handy. It’s going to be raining trees for the next few weeks!

It's Raining Trees!

What Are You Thankful For?

Posted on November 24, 2016 by vnarula

It’s Thanksgiving in America today.

It’s the busiest travel day of the year. Nearly 48 million people will be traveling by car, rail or plane! Three million U.S. airline passengers will swarm airports hoping to catch flights, although many travelers will be stuck at airport checkout counters. Others will be stuck in long security lines holding their shoes, eventually wandering around the terminal in their socks hoping to escape by automobile. Car transportation isn’t any better though. The roads and highways are just as bad, though the bonus is you keep your shoes on.

None of these Thanksgiving travel experiences puts someone in a good mood, but it does burn calories and make a person hungry. So it’s no surprise that at Thanksgiving everyone eats lots of food. There’s the staples like cranberry sauce, turkey and mashed potatoes. There’s new twists on old traditions too – Tofurkey, cauliflower stuffing, and other dairy-free and meat-free options for vegans and vegetarians.

Whether you’re on a special diet or not, today’s the day when rules can be broken. We can loosen our belt four notches, kick our no-carbs diet to the curb and attack apple pies like a ravenous banshee. We justify it with these words: “C’mon! It’s Thanksgiving. It’s only once a year. A little indulgence is okay.”

So this Thanksgiving, whether you’re stuck in security lines or not, whether you’re adjusting the notches on your belt or not, whether you’re eating Tofurkey or not, let’s remember what this holiday is really about. (No, it’s not about the Pre-Black Friday TV Mega Sale at your local Best Buy.)

It’s about giving thanks. Thanks to our beautiful planet for giving us life. And thanks to the amazing trees. They provide us with the apple pie on our plates, the roof over our heads (literally), and so much more. (See video below.)

Let’s be grateful and count our blessings today.

And let’s save our ungratefulness for the food hangover and indigestion tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ready to Decorate Your Home?

Posted on March 23, 2016 by vnarula

Have you noticed all the new home decorating magazines popping up at checkout counters and bookstores lately? It seems there’s a new one arriving everyday.

There must be hundreds of them now. Some are tied to a famous brand or person. Some have European-sounding names. Some are just weird. But regardless of where they fall on the spectrum, most of them are saying the same thing.

Add color! Paint! Renovate! Remodel! Buy nice towels. Done.

Ok, maybe that’s a bit simplified.

Some of the articles have interesting nuggets of advice, but I find most a little over the top. For instance, one magazine suggested my life will find new meaning when I begin to hold regular soirees filled with glitter balloons, spiced pear truffles and some kind of lustrous light candleholders.

Really?

Thanks for the advice, but I’ll pass.

All the inspiration I need is right in front of me. Spring has officially arrived, which means over the next several weeks I’ve got a front-row seat to learn from the Mother of all Home Decorators.

Can anyone match her creativity, her brilliance, when it comes to decorating her own home? What’s a glitter balloon compared to a budding flower?  What are spiced pear truffles compared to a juicy, ripe pear she lets me pluck and eat off a tree?

Wouldn’t it be great if we helped Mama Nature out a bit? She’s been doing this for a couple zillion years. 

Of course, we can’t match her attention to detail, but I’m sure she wouldn’t mind some extra help. What if we cared for, decorated and celebrated our collective home with the same zeal as she does, with as much love as those magazines want us to care for and celebrate our individual ones?

The good news is we are. Millions of us are coming together on April 22 to honor the greatest home decorator and greatest home ever.

All of us are contributing in our own small way. Neighborhood Forest, for instance, is launching its biggest tree giveaway yet, hoping to give away nearly 10,000 trees to kids during Earth Week (April 18-22).

Do you want a tree for your child? You can sign up (on a laptop, tablet or desktop computer) to get one. To find out if your child’s school participating, you can go to this link: https://www.neighborhoodforest.org/search-for-school/

We know parent participation increases when kids are involved. If a child wants a tree to plant, we don’t want them to go home from school empty-handed. So this year we’ve created a fun video just for them. (See below.)

We hope it will make them smile, reminding them to tell mom or dad not to forget our real “home decorating” day!

Earth Day is coming. Come join the celebration and let’s decorate our home together. 

No glitter balloons necessary.

Let's Celebrate Our Home!

Vivek Narula is the Director of Neighborhood Forest (@treesforkids) – an organization that gives free trees to schoolchildren every Earth Day.

Can We Reverse Climate Change?

Posted on November 24, 2015 by vnarula

Many nations. One goal. One very important conference.

The future of our planet is on the line, and we have a few words to say about it!

Can We Reverse Climate Change?

Vivek Narula is the Director of Neighborhood Forest (@treesforkids) – an organization that gives free trees to schoolchildren every Earth Day.