Earth Systems Science, Inc.

2nd Annual Free Fruit Tree Distribution At Wat Thai-Los Angeles

Mar 14, 2005

Photos, top left: People line up for free fruit trees as Mr. Boonna Sonchai, of the Royal Thai Consulate General?’s Office ?– Los Angeles, talks with ITV news. Bottom: Impartial witnesses verify the count of the funds raised for the Thai Red Cross Society Tsunami Relief and the ESSI Na Fa Elementary School project.

This was the second Free Fruit Tree Distribution at Wat Thai ?– Los Angeles (Wat Thai- LA). Earth Systems Science, Inc. (ESSI) organized the event that was funded by TreePeople (who supplied the free fruit trees). In addition to distributing 150 Apple, Apricots, Fig, Nectarine, Peach, and Plum bare-root fruit trees, ESSI also distributed free National Wildlife Federation (NWF) urban wildlife habitat information.

But this was not merely a repeat of the 2004 event. Last year, the initial press releases announcing the free fruit tree distribution were greeted with healthy skepticism. ?“Are the trees really free??” ?“What?’s wrong with the trees??” When you consider that similar trees retail in garden supply stores ranging from $25 to $40, people begin to wonder who can afford to give away 150 bare-root fruit trees for free.

TreePeople, a California environmental non-profit organization, buys the trees to fight hunger and improve neighborhood nutrition in Los Angeles. They work with other community groups such as ESSI to distribute the trees as a community service project. What people at Wat Thai ?– LA see as a one-day event actually began the day before.

On Friday, 4 February, TreePeople and ESSI organize volunteers to prepare the bare-root fruit trees for distribution. This requires some basic training for the volunteers to prune the dead, diseased, damaged, and deranged branches and roots, then to wrap the bare-roots in wet newspaper. No one gets paid to do this work. It all depends on the good will and community spirit of the volunteers. This year, the tree preparation day was rainy and wet---great to help keep the trees cool and moist, but luckily, not cold and wet enough to put a damper on the spirits of the volunteers. The ESSI volunteers consisted of Kristine Adissakkith, Jaime Aguilera, Nithi Apaisuwarn, Tom Lao, Ayut Laosunthornsiri, Catareya Laosunthornsiri, Gregory and Saifon Lee, Patrick McCullough, Stephany Payne, and Lili Wei and a friend. Steve Hofvendahl, TreePeople Nursery Manager, organized some TreePeople volunteers: Ulrika Johansson, Peter Langham, Carola Miller, Pilar Reynaldo, Melissa Thorne, Jill Woodmansee --- and several other volunteers whose names we weren't able to recover. Please forgive any omissions. Sincere thanks go to these special folks who endured the cold, wet weather to help serve the community.

This year, ESSI purchased an additional 200 trees to sell in order to raise funds for the Thai Red Cross Tsunami Relief Effort and the ESSI Na Fa Elementary School summer 2005 project in Thawangpha, Nan Province, Thailand. So, all together, these volunteers had to prepare 350 trees. In spite of the rain, they managed to complete the work in about 4 hours. The volunteers got an unexpected surprise when Saifon Lee announced spaghetti lunch and hot tea and hot chocolate were available. No one had expected to get fed lunch while volunteering. Ebony Farms provided a pick-up truck and driver to transport about 2/3 of the trees from the TreePeople nursery to Wat Thai ?– LA. ESSI transported the remaining 1/3 of the trees.

Saturday morning, 5 February, another team of volunteers arrived at Wat Thai ?– LA. It was a beautiful sunny day in stark contrast to the rain of the previous day. Wat Thai ?– LA provided two large tents, several tables and chairs. As the ESSI volunteers began setting up the tents, signs, displays, free materials and unloading the trees, a moment of magic began to happen. Some of the Wat Thai ?– LA regulars and volunteers began to take notice of the ESSI team. When they learned about the volunteer effort to distribute free fruit trees to the Wat Thai -:LA community, they were moved to action. Ms Charauyporn Issaranggoon Na Ayuttaya went to the temple kitchen to buy breakfast porridge and tea for the ESSI volunteers. When the kitchen staff learned her reason for buying the food, they gave it to her for free! Several other Wat Thai volunteers pitched in to help unload and sort the 350 trees! Many hands made the task easier. The spirit of goodness permeated the morning air, warming the hearts, minds, and hands of everyone.

In an effort to distribute the 150 free fruit trees to as many families as possible, a limit of 1 tree per family was set. Additional trees could be purchased, in another tent, through the ESSI fund raising effort. The sale price was $12 a tree---a very reasonable price in contrast to the $25-$40 retail price in stores. And even with the sale trees, something magical happened. ESSI got cash donations of $348 from Gary George, Sue Jen Cage, Julie Slagle, Mark and Carolyn Hayden, Aroon Seeboonruang, and two businesses (All Valley Service Center and Little Thai Restaurant) with instructions to purchase trees but to distribute them free to the public. This added another 29 trees to the original 150 free trees from TreePeople. This was a very pleasant and generous action of highly motivated and community-spirited people to add to the good deed already being done!

At the end of the day, Saifon Lee, ESSI Director of Programs, gathered some impartial witnesses (Anna Intharathut, a former employee at the Royal Thai Consulate General ?– Los Angeles; Tantip Moanpho, Paul S. Sunnananda, and Phramaha Sunthorn Sornchai, a monk at Wat Thai ?– LA) verified the counting of the donations and cash receipts from tree sales. The net result of the day?’s efforts was $262 raised for the Thai Red Cross Society?’s Tsunami Relief (the funds were sent to the Royal Thai Consulate General ?– Los Angeles), and $149 raised for the ESSI summer 2005 Na Fa Elementary School project. While the amounts are modest, these efforts were also part of the war against hunger (TreePeople?’s original purpose in giving away free fruit trees), and in the larger battle to improve the overall environmental quality of life in Los Angeles. Planting trees help improve watersheds, clear up air pollution, create more shade to reduce energy demand, provide habitat for urban wildlife, and also reduce stress in humans by providing more contact with natural greenery in LA.

Thanks go to the volunteers who helped with the tree distribution at Wat Thai ?– LA on Saturday: Kristine Adissakkith, , Nithi Apaisuwarn, Ayut Laosunthornsiri, Catareya Laosunthornsiri, Gregory and Saifon Lee, Patrick McCullough, Carola Miller, Tantip Muanpho, Methinee Tantisinan, Sureeya Wattanakoson, and several other Wat Thai ?– Los Angeles volunteers whose names we weren't able to recover---no slight intended).

Thanks also go to our local community business sponsors: All Valley Service Center, Little Thai Restaurant for their cash for tree donations. Ebony Farms provided the pickup truck and driver for getting and delivering the fruit tress. Overnight Press printed the tree tags acknowledging the partnering groups for the free fruit tree distribution effort.

Thanks to Wat Thai ?– Los Angeles for permission to hold the event at the temple and to raise funds for the Thai Red Cross Society Tsunami Relief Effort and the ESSI summer 2005 Na Fa Elementary School Project.

ESSI and TreePeople expect to repeat this event in Jan / Feb 2006. So visit this website and watch for announcements in early 2006.

All photos copyright 2005, ESSI. Photos by GK Lee.