History

Trees for Lives, has a very unique development. The Project has stemmed from many Voluntourism trips taken by youths in a Venturing Crew out of Holland, MI. The Goals of these trips were to empower youth, create sustainable hope and help meet the needs of the local people. We were searching for ways to serve that would have a sustainable impact. We passed out food in the slums, cleaned trails of garbage and trash, supported orphanages, and tried to institute Indonesian Venturing Crews to create opportunity for youth. These were all helpful and impactful but seemed only for the moment…Then we planted trees!

The idea was a combination of our group being environmentally conscious and our Indonesian friends informing us that he was starting a tree farm in a village on the island of Sumatra. With our interest peaked, we packed or bags and offered our support to make it happen. The impact was incredible. We were able to establish relationships and gain the trust of the village leader and people. We were now meeting the needs of the people by, creating jobs for the local people, eliminating poverty, and creating hope in a sustainable way. We helped create something that will last long after we leave.

Indonesian friends in relationship with local community leaders saw the significance of what we were doing. They then came to us proposing we keep the efforts going and plant 100,000 trees. We then formed, “Trees for Lives,” and started to work. We are now launching “Trees for Lives,” sites across the country and do not plan to stop our work at 100,000 trees!