Trees for a Change Founded By Kim Islye

The roots for Trees for a Change really sprouted when I was 5 and decided to start my own business selling glittered pine cones on a card table in front of my house. Ever since then I have wanted to own my own business, and I just had to figure out how to combine that desire with my love for nature and making things.

Many years back I started to feel overwhelmed by the commercial focus put on gift giving, especially at Christmas. I noticed that most of the people I cared about already had enough “stuff,” so I started making their gifts instead of buying them a new pair of slippers.

My family and friends have endured many of my unique (and sometimes scary) creations over the years including windchimes, photo calendars, garden stepping stones, kaleidoscopes, gift baskets, mixed CDs, keepsake boxes, and jars of olives I picked and cured myself. I give something different each year, and by now they probably wonder what I will come up with next.

New information about climate change has created an urgent need to focus on the environment even more than before. I got the idea for Trees for a Change when I was reading that one of the best things you can do to fight global warming is to plant a tree. Planting a tree in the name of someone you care about really seemed like the perfect gift idea: it benefits the planet, it makes you feel good to be giving a unique and personal gift, and it makes the person you are planting the tree for feel good because something wonderful has been done in their name and because you didn’t give them a gift they will eventually get rid of at a yard sale.

Many months and a lot of work later, we opened for business, excited about the chance to share our enthusiasm for planting trees. I hope you find our Tree Gift to be a beautiful and meaningful way to celebrate another person while doing something good for the earth and her future generations. Please know that when you order a gift from Trees for a Change, your gift has been created with the care and attention I would put into gifts for my own family.

I am thrilled to offer you Trees for a Change because a change in the way we give gifts can mean a change in the world.

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