There is a new 501c3, not for profit, based out of Crete – Sacred Tree NFP. Founder Natalie Wilson, an herbalist and avid gardener who loves trees, wants to educate and uplift communities to restore biodiversity that is critical to humanity’s survival, as biodiversity provides the air we breathe, medicines to heal us, and the food we eat.
Planting diverse species of native, disease, and storm resistant trees in your yard can improve the local ecosystem, a community’s air quality, sustain wildlife, and help regulate global pollution levels, not to mention trees can improve health, increase property value, and lower energy costs.
An Arbor Day Adoption and Education event, at the end of April, will kick-off the “Free Trees Program.” It also greatly will focus on in-kind tree planting for those who wish to remove the non-native, invasive, and very common spring flowering tree the Callery or ‘Bradford’ Pear (Pyrus calleryana) species and its cultivars, and replace it with a new native, non-invasive tree. The details and application for our Invasive Tree Swap Program will open late spring to early summer for autumn tree planting.
The group currently has several adoptable trees (15 species) in our free trees program for Arbor Day 2023. Information about the program and electronic applications may be filled out by visiting our website at https://sacredtreeorg.wixsite.com/sacredtree-org/free-trees-program.
Sacred Tree NFP also is asking for community support and is seeking volunteers to fill a variety of positions (community service hours also are offered), community partnerships, and sponsors to engage in and invest in a variety of projects and educational programs that will support organizational goals and plant seeds of hope for a sustainable future for generations to come.
Areas of service currently include portions of Southern Cook County and South East Will County, plus Northwest Indiana. If interested in supporting us in any way to make an impact on our regional area, please visit sacredtreeorg.wixsite.com/sacredtree-org to learn more about us, to fill out a volunteer application, or sign up for the monthly newsletter!
Your support is greatly appreciated. It takes a village, as no one can do everything, but everyone can do something.
Thank you for this article! It is deeply appreciated. We are working so hard towards our goals and getting the word out there is going to do so much for our mission.
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