Captain Sir Tom Moore was an inspiration to us all. He was a man on a mission to do something supportive for those on the front line of Covid-19 in a time of chaos, fear and uncertainty. He came up with a personal plan and then over delivered beyond anyone's wildest dreams. Instead of raising £1000 for the NHS, he captured the imagination and heart of the world and raised over £39M. His achievement was astonishing, inspirational, heartwarming and humbling. He became a hero at a time when our world needs heroes.
To lose Sir Tom to Covid-19 is tragic. Our hearts go out to his family at this complex time of grief made public as the world comes to terms with the loss of a man who gave us all permission to dream and dare. He proved that you are never too old or young to make a difference. He showed us that anyone could achieve more than we could ever imagine. We need to try.
Lucy and her sister Hannah were inundated with flowers from people all around the world who were asking what they could do to honour their father. Their response was to invite that love to be turned into bark and leaf and for everyone to help grow a living legacy for her father in the shape of a global forest. Trees are, after all, the great global caretakers, and just like her father, they do what’s needed to serve.
Our forests are crucial stabilisers of our global climate. They are rain and river creators, home to a vast proportion of our global biodiversity and critically endangered species. They are our breath, our lungs, our global heart, part of the planetary immune system and even our global brain. We cannot live without our trees.
Tom was a passionate Nature lover and a global citizen; thus, his forest is to be both local and global. The Woodland Trust will turn donations into native trees and cherished woodland in the UK. TreeSisters will turn gifts into numerous tropical species of a tree across 11 diverse locations from Amazonia to Borneo.
We are restoring forest corridors in Brazil to allow for the migration of endangered Jaguars, Puma and Ocelots. We're growing food forests in the Amazon with the Ashaninka Tribe, restoring watersheds around Mt Kenya and Gorilla habitat in Cameroon. We're restoring coastal Mangrove forests in Mozambique, Madagascar and West Papua, alleviating aching poverty and helping families out of indentured slavery. We're restoring the Orangutan habitat in Borneo, Nepal's jungle, and a mighty river in India.
TreeSisters researches reforestation projects to find those that best serve the planet and people. Through us, donors fund projects that are truly ethical, that value the participation of women and that serve communities in ways that strengthen sovereignty and livelihood. Their generosity makes a difference around the tropical forest belt and connects you to species, places and people that require our love and care to recover and thrive.
We are always asked how many trees our gift can plant, and the answer is many. Through TreeSisters, because of the diversity of cultures and types of projects we fund. That cost covers sapling generation, planting, protection, monitoring, reporting and replanting in case of mortality. This cost means that almost all of us can make a huge, beautiful and measurable difference with the gifts we can give.
It’s a great privilege to be asked to grow a forest for Captain Sir Tom Moore. We do so with hearts full of gratitude that this outpouring of love for him can turn into trees and a global forest that serves all of life on Earth.