Environmentalism embraced early

Wickliffe Public was only NEO library participant in ‘Neighborhood Forest’

Vikas Narula was a college student at Maharishi International University in Fairfield, Iowa, in the early 1990s, when he was introduced to a free tree project started by environmentalist David Kidd of Canton.

Soon, Narula and his friends adopted the program, giving away tens of thousands of trees to schoolchildren across southeast Iowa.

After graduating, Narula moved to Minneapolis and decided to rekindle his passion of giving trees to kids, which coincided with his first son entering kindergarten.

Thus, the Neighborhood Forest initiative was born, now an engaged family affair that started with four schools and has grown to over 400 schools, libraries and youth groups across America and Canada.

Wickliffe Public Library was the sole library in Northeast Ohio, officials confirmed, to celebrate this spring in the 12th annual Neighborhood Forest program, which aims to provide free trees to kids every Earth Day.

Further, according to Narula, the goal is to reach every child in North America and, eventually, the world.

“We’re excited to be the only local library participating in this wonderful program that teaches kids stewardship through the magic and wonder of planting and watching trees grow,” said Wickliffe Public Library Children’s Manager Shannon George.

A library in Michigan decided to participate and share the program on a programming group on Facebook, and it went viral from there.

George said she saw the idea and decided it would be a perfect program for patrons of Wickliffe’s Children’s Department.

“We have not done a program for Earth Day in the past, but this seemed to be a positive and important learning lesson to take care of our planet,” she said.

“In addition to this, we have been unable to do inperson programs due to COVID-19,” she added. “We do have many virtual programs, but this opportunity allowed us to reach our patrons in a meaningful way.”

The “free tree” program ended up having 30 families participate. They were notified to pick up their shipped (free) saplings at the library.

Since Forest Neighborhood, by design, is a dropin-and-pick-up program, no COVID-19 restrictions were held in place.

“Patrons were so excited to receive their trees,” George said. “Again, it is a wonderful learning experience for younger children, kindergarten to fourth grade, to learn about the environment and create a family memory.”

Since 2010, Neighborhood Forest has reached over 100,000 families — and planted over 50,000 mostly urban and residential trees — through the hands of children and parents across North America.

The organization also gave away a record 18,500 trees to children in 35 states for Earth Day 2021.

“There is an amazing feeling that comes with planting a little tree and seeing it grow to maturity — watching your life and kids grow with them,” said Narula, noting the 6-inch silver maple sapling he planted in 1993 is now unclimbable.

“It is this wondrous feeling that gave rise to Neighborhood Forest,” he added. “Now, we get to pay the joy forward.”

SUBMITTED Vikas Narula, founder of Forest Neighborhood, a multinational “free tree” program, embraces with the silver maple tree he planted in 1993. Since 2010, the organization planted over 50,000mostly urban and residential trees across North America.