Given all the challenges we see on the news these days, all of us (especially when we have children), want to enjoy the holidays without overspending or having to worry too much.

Just like some of you, I’ve wrestled with these challenges for years, trying to stretch limited resources without appearing as worn down as I actually felt. It was good though, it made me focus on priorities and allocate the money I did have toward things that really mattered, and that wouldn’t end up in the dump (or recycling) within days of giving. But I still succumbed to buying unnecessary stuff for gifts when holiday advertising put pressure on.

A few years ago, I finally decided to make my money really count, to stand up for what I believe in, and to give myself – and people I care about – the gift of hope:

• I believe in a world with clean air, drinkable water and natural food in our children’s future

• I believe in the possibility of reversing global warming

• I believe in fair trade wages for everyone who works

• I believe in the Goodness and Abundance of Life

I discovered that planting trees in the rainforest where I was born, was the easiest way I could find to back my beliefs with my money. So I started doing just that: planting trees in the Atlantic Rainforest of Brazil, with the help of the people whose faces you’ll see in the banner below: Rev. Michael Bernard Beckwith, Rickie Byars Beckwith, Marie Diamond, Katherine Woodward Thomas, Martin Dunkerton, and the Kids For Environmental and Social Action. Together, we were able to give 3,833 trees back to the rainforest last year, while supporting simple people who felt utterly invisible to the world.

Join us in giving trees to a rural community, while supporting affiliated organizations in the US at the same time. All this for just $5 a tree! Your gift will support the grassroots efforts of social entrepreneurs in the US and Brazil, as well as the NGOs and communities they serve. Our common goal is to reverse global warming, while supporting the people who have taken the initiative to sustainably harvest seeds, organically grow trees and supply organizations who teach subsistence farm families how to replant a rainforest.

When you buy $5 trees through Rainforest ECO, we buy native tree saplings at a fair trade price from our field partners, pay local labor to transport truckloads of trees to an NGO that oversees the planting and maintenance of these trees by farm families who are renewing their rainforest for the benefit of the entire planet.

GIVE A TREE – GET A GIFT

In JOY, you can be part of the new earth-centered, gifting economy!

Give a tree to the rainforest with us, and receive a gift of thanks you can use this season. iGiveTrees gives you beautiful holiday card images in December, and a whole year’s worth of uplifting and inspiring gifts to those who give trees every month.

DECEMBER’S GIFT COMES TO YOU FROM DEBORAH KOFF-CHAPIN

Deborah Koff-Chapin has been developing Touch Drawing since 1974 and has introduced it at conferences and graduate programs internationally. She is Adjunct Associate Professor at California Institute of Integral Studies. Deborah is creator of SoulCards 1&2 and author of Drawing Out Your Soul. Her artwork has appeared in numerous magazines and books. Deborah’s website, www.touchdrawing.com, is a treasure trove of images, stories, e-cards and educational media to learn Touch Drawing.

This beautiful HOLIDAY CARD SET is available as a download to print for personal use.

“A tree was planted in the Brazilian rainforest – Mata Atlantica – by the person who gave you this card.”
is printed on the back of the card.

And there is a full set of inserts you can print with tree quotations from from Woody Allen to Longfellow, from Shakespeare to Osho!

If you decide to become a MONTHLY TREE GIVER, WE’LL GIVE YOU MONTHLY GIFTS!

12 months of giving trees to renew a rainforest = 12 months of receiving gifts to renew your spirit

You grow as we grow! Meet a few of the people who will be giving their gifts to our monthly tree subscribers -

KAREN RUSSO

Karen Russo teaches from her wisdom gained as an MBA from Columbia University, an accomplished corporate trainer, top-selling salesperson, and an ordained interfaith minister. She is the award-winning author of The Money Keys, endorsed by Dr. Michael Bernard Beckwith.

Too many smart, spiritually connected, talented professionals are blocked by financial anxieties, resentments, and mess. You’ll receive Book Chapter, Audio & 3 Guided lessons show you exactly how to stop worrying, fighting and struggling with money for good. www.TheMoneyKeys.com

MARIE DIAMOND

Marie Diamond is a globally renowned transformational leader—featured in the worldwide phenomenon “The Secret” and seven other motivational documentaries—who uses her extraordinary knowledge of quantum physics, the Law of Attraction, and Feng Shui energy to help people transform their environments and their lives.

KATHERINE WOODWARD THOMAS

Katherine Woodward Thomas is the national bestselling author of Calling in “The One”, a licensed psychotherapist and the co-creator and co-leader of the Feminine Power transformative courses for women. She is the co-creator and co-host of the highly acclaimed Women on the Edge of Evolution teleseries, which gathers thousands of women weekly to engage the world’s most preeminent female luminaries, thinkers, scientists, artists and agents of change.

MARCIA WIEDER

Marcia Wieder is a leading tranformational coach and public speaker…. You’ll receive her recording and white paper “12 ways to be a 21st Centuary Visionary.”

More gifts will be coming to you during the year from these familiar faces of transformation, acknowledging your generosity to give more trees…

With a full heart, I welcome you to this global community of renewal.

Warm Hugs,
Alana Lea

P.S Check out these videos done about the work this last year!

This video is from the 2011 Agape International Choir, blessing our fundraising efforts for trees with a song!

This video is from the 2011 benefit concert created by the Los Angeles Kids For Environmental & Social Action, that resulted in great impact… You must see to believe!

This video was taken by Brazilian Globo TV for the program Planeta Vanguarda, documenting our Thanksgiving 2010 Give-A-Way of 1,000 trees.

Visit Changents to learn more of the story behind the project.