This effort is in loving memory of Kate Jeans-Gail, a former Peace Corps Volunteer.  This initiative is a model for Morocco because most the saplings for these nurseries come from fruit trees from earlier HAF tree distributions, which means that local people can replenish their own orchards without any additional purchases.  Our next goal is to do the same with fig – and achieve community self-sufficiency in the region with fruit trees that do not require the application of pesticides.

Also this season, HAF planted with communities in the Ben Guerir area 1,000 olive trees on 2½ hectares that are drip irrigated, and gave trees to the local elementary school.  Since 2003, HAF has planted 320,000 fruit trees and saplings in five provinces of Morocco – more than twelve times the number of trees in New York City’s Central Park.

And the 2011 season is not over!  We just finalized an agreement with the Regional Office of Waters and Forests in Marrakech where they are providing almost one hectare of land for a community nursery with the High Atlas villages of the Asni Commune, upon which 50,000 walnut saplings will be planted by mid-April.  HAF will then begin to prepare for the 2012 season, including a tree nursery with communities neighboring the Tazekka National Park near Taza, made possible by the deeply heartfelt Memorial of former Peace Corps Volunteer Tom Tolen.

HAF and its community partners are incredibly grateful to the Caterpillar Foundation, Chief Executive Organization, Earth Day Network, the OCP Group, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Morocco to the United States H.E. Aziz Mekouar, and the dear family and friends of Kate Jeans-Gail and Tom Tolen for their very wonderful support, as well as to the many individuals who invest in HAF from their hearts.  HAF would also like to sincerely thank the Faculty of Law, Economics, and Social Sciences of Hassan II University in Mohammedia for being the home of its administration in Morocco.

With less than $1 needed to plant one fruit sapling, and 100 fruit trees on average doubling household incomes, each of us can create a better future for Moroccan families in great need.  With sincere respect and kindness, we ask that you invest in HAF for the first time, or continue to, so that we together achieve the One Million Tree goal in 2012, InshAllah.