Free trees for kids from The ChariTree Foundation

tree7_small“Wenonah has been participating in this program for a few years now, and we love it. It provides our campers with astronger appreciation for the surrounding nature and our site. As well, allows us to regenerate areas of ourcamp that have been depleted by various activity.” – Geoffrey Williamson, Assistant Director, Camp Wenonah.

Andrea Koehle Jones, Charitree’s executive director, is a former Camp Mi-A-Kon-Da Program Director and she has a special place in her heart for summer camps. She says summer camps offer children unparalleled opportunities to switch off screens, live outside and connect with nature on a deeper level. She says the seeds of The Charitree Foundation were born during her unforgettable days at a girl’s summer camp on a tiny tree-topped island in Northern Ontario.

As always, the Charitree Foundation tree planting program is open to all Canadian Camping Association camps in 2014, including those that planted trees in previous years.

In summer 2013, campers in over 75 camps across Canada planted a total of 20,000 trees!  Once again, for the sixth consecutive year, The ChariTree Foundation, is offering free seedlings to all Canadian camps.

Ordering

By April 1, 2014, contact your provincial representative (listed below) and place your order including the number of trees and the location where they will be planted. You may chose to plant between 40 and 800 trees.  Andrea accesses coniferous seedlings from nurseries across Canada; different native seedlings are chosen based on province and growing conditions as well as seedling availability. The trees are packed in packages of 20 in cardboard boxes.

Delivery

You will be notified by your representative precisely when (the date will be within the last two weeks of June) and where the trees are available for pick up in your province.   Andrea’s commitment is to deliver the total order for each province to one location, which is chosen by the provincial representative.  Your representative will notify each participating camp of this location prior to submitting your order. Each camp is responsible for collecting their order from this location or pre-arranging to pay for delivery to their campsite.

The trees may be stored in a dark, cool location for a maximum of two weeks before planting.

The camp agrees to:

  • Promptly acknowledge the receipt of their trees directly to Andrea (This step is done online.  Camps that do not meet this obligation will forgo the opportunity to access free trees in future years).
  • Plant their trees with their campers within two weeks.
  • Water the seedlings if the weather is dry.

For more information on Andrea Koehle Jones and the Charitree Foundation see www.charitree-foundation.org

Provincial Representatives

BC: Margo Dunnet margod@fircom.ca

Alberta: Kathy Koehler koehler.gk@gmail.com

Saskatchewan: Donna Wilkinson donnaw@sasktel.net

Manitoba: Liz Kovach  executivedirector@mbcamping.ca

Ontario: Nicole Markowitz nicole@ontariocamps.ca

Quebec: Tanya Desrochers tanyaire@hotmail.com

New Brunswick: John Savage john@campcentennial.ca

Nova Scotia & P.E.I: Derek Mitchell derekmitchell@venturepartner.ca

Newfoundland & Labrador:  Malcolm Turner killdevil.camp@gmail.com

TREE PLANTING INSTRUCTIONS AND ACTIVITIES can be accessed here. (2014 instructions will be update in March 2014)

Note: ChariTREE is a very small registered Canadian charity and Andrea (she does not have a staff working with her) is sourcing and delivering more than native 30,000 seedlings to children in different regions across the country each year so PLEASE read the above instructions carefully and contact your provincial reps with questions and requests so Andrea can do what she does best – attract donors to pay for trees and delivery and get as many Wish Trees as she can to kids across the country while staying within the charity’s budget.

Tree Species

We cannot say what species we will be providing until all the requests for trees come in and we see what seedlings are available within the budget. In the past we have provided camps with White Spruce, Douglas Fir, Red Cedar, Lodgepole Pine, White Pine and more.

Make a Wish!

”There’s something so hopeful about planting Wish Trees with kids,” said executive director Andrea Jones. “Kids are the future stewards of the environment. They’re concerned about the state of the planet and eager to help. I’ve seen the magic that happens when you give a child a tree – let’s give as many children as we can a Wish Tree of their own.”

When children receive a Wish Tree through their school, camp or other children’s organizations, they get to plant it and make a wish for the world. Every time they return to visit and / or care for their tree they can make more wishes for anything! They can write their wishes on 100% recycled paper butterflies and tie them to their seedlings. Kids and / or camp staff can send their wishes out to the world here: https://www.charitree-foundation.org/wish4theplanet

 

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