Written & Photographed by Zoe van Duivenbode, Marketing Intern
The energetic spirit and passion for environmental protection truly shined at the BAPS Charities walkathon held in Redmond over the weekend. BAPS Charities is an organization that helps support charitable projects here in the United States and around the world. This year, BAPS Charities selected The Nature Conservancy's Plant a Billion Trees Initiative as one of their charitable projects to support! TNC's Initiative aims to plant one billion trees throughout the world by 2025 to make our planet a greener place for generations to come. BAPS Charities is showing their support by hosting a series of Walk Green fundraising events in over 50 cities across the country to help spread the word about the importance of environmental stewardship.
Dedicated children from the local BAPS Charities center in Redmond went from door to door within their communities, sharing TNC's Plant a Billion Trees Initiative with their neighbors. While each child walked up on stage to be congratulated for their incredible fundraising efforts, the true reward was in their enormous smiles and proud faces. Afterwards, Lauren Miheli, TNC’s amazing volunteer coordinator, kicked off the walkathon with a motivational speech and untied the starting line ribbon! Children, friends and families walked over the starting line and continued along the path to complete the 5K trail. While participating in the walkathon, we had time to chat with some of the members of BAPS Charities on why they support TNC’s Initiative. Many expressed that they wanted their children to become more involved with nature and help them understand they can make a difference in helping protect our planet.
These little stewards are playing a big part in making our billion tree dream become a reality! Thank you BAPS Charities for supporting our vision to create a greener and healthier planet for the enjoyment of future generations!
