100,000 Fruit Trees for El Salvador

Dear friend:

We hope this letter finds you healthy and happy this holiday season! In November 2021, we planted fruit trees on four continents to symbolize our commitment to planting tens of thousands more at those project locations during the coming season. All with the goal of helping create a world full of abundance, in which food forests fill public parks, community gardens, schools, hospitals, and backyards to ensure everyone has access to organic, sustainable, perennial nutrition right at their fingertips. A place where families enjoy picnics under the shade of thriving fruit trees, breathe the clean air they generate, watch birds and wildlife foraging amongst the canopy, and are asked only to bring an appetite for the fruits growing overhead. A world in which we come together in collective selfless action to plant trees now so that future generations can benefit from the beauty and bounty they provide.

Throughout the year, we are excited to receive updates from previous planting partners as well as formal recognition from local governments such as Los Angeles County and Mococa, Brazil, where trees from our programs are now providing thousands of pounds of fruit for communities. Every year, we share a couple of these stories so you can see exactly how you are making a difference each and every time you support our work (many more examples can be found on our social media sites throughout the year).

Orchard update –"A food forest is the only way to describe our campus ... an oasis in an urban desert. A place where butterflies, bees, birds, and all manner of wildlife frolic and dance among the seasonally changing colors. A place where one feels at peace, where the rich smell of ripe figs, guavas, loquats, and apples perfume the air. Every school deserves to be a food forest." –Eddie Cortes, Horticulture Specialist at Environmental Charter School in Los Angeles, which received an orchard donation in 2008 as part of our Fruit Tree 101 program

Orchard update – “We recently had an elder pass by and mention he hasn’t seen fruit trees like ours in years, we picked a ripe apple and gave it to him, grateful that our urban orchard can inspire and delight."–Heather Fenney, Co-Executive Director of the Paul Robeson Community Wellness Center in Los Angeles, where each tree is producing about 20-25 pounds of fruit

We are excited to report that in 2021, we planted and distributed 43,825 fruit trees in six countries (United States, Uganda, El Salvador, Guatemala, Brazil, and Peru). We often remind community volunteers that once we plant trees together, we are friends for life—and we are so grateful to have made so many friends this year. We know this is true for those who support our programs in other ways as well, including our donors, who make all this work possible in the first place. We are so very grateful to have you as a friend for life and hope you’ll consider contributing to our upcoming projects so we can create a beautiful “fruiture” together.

Please donate today knowing that for the eleventh year in a row, more than 90 cents of every dollar contributed was used in our life-sustaining tree planting programs.

 For a greener, cleaner, healthier planet, 

Cem Akin, TreeEO & Co-creator