If you are planning to travel internationally, we may be able to get you in touch with project leaders world-wide who will likely be able to meet you along your journey and show off some of the work they are doing.

Although we don't directly offer international volunteer opportunities, if you decide that you're going to travel to a developing community to see what's there and what you can do, we will be pleased to provide seeds and training materials, useful contacts, travel and lodging suggestions, some ideas for what to take (and not take) along. If you have time to stop by our offices we can offer you some brief instructions on ways to help the people you visit get the greatest benefit from your assistance.

Most of us here at TREES received our initial training as Peace Corps Volunteers, and we have seen how working with developing communities is a unique and truly rewarding experience. We encourage all Americans to serve the opportunity of a lifetime. Many of our projects are done in conjunction with Peace Corps who have a unique advantage of living in the communities they serve.

For anyone interested in a little footwork, we can provide you with the materials to spread our message to more people. This will require some initiative and creativity on your part. People to approach include:

•  Local businesses- You may know of some local businesses that would be interested in partnering with Trees (check out the Global Cooling Business page at http://plant-trees.org/partnerships.htm)

•  Friends, neighbors, civic groups- We are always looking for new members, but we also like to educate the public on what they can do to curb global warming and why appropriately used agroforestry techniques are so important. We can also provide materials for presentations or group activities

•  Media- We can always use publicity to draw in new members, from neighborhood gazettes to local and national T.V. channels.

•  Local school system- Once upon a time (1996 to be exact) Trees for the Future initiated a project known as Tree Pals . That first year more than 3,800 school children across America raised funds and built a program with over 2,200 schools in developing countries through which 910,000 trees were planted. The success of the program motivated leaders in these communities to get busy, causing the total number of trees planted to nearly double! We would like to bring this program back, in one form or another, but we need your help. The initial steps as a volunteer would be to scout out schools and/or classrooms in your local area that would be interested in 1) a hands-on tree-growing project to fit into their local environmental science curriculum and 2) the opportunity to exchange letters with children in partner schools across the world.

We happily accept any books or other resources you may have about Global Climate Change, Agroforestry, Sustainable Farming, Forest Management, and Soil Conservation, as wells as books for children that we can give to local schools - teachers and the local organizations we serve always ask for them.

We can only grow and improve by incorporating new ideas such as those related to appropriate technology for poor people with few resources, small-scale livestock and poultry production, how to grow food organically, energy-saving ideas and alternate energy usage, health and nutrition, traditional medicines and other things needed by people in developing countries. We have also received requests to organize “eco-tours" to many places where we work, if enough people are interested. If you have such a group, or have any knowledge that may help our cause, please let us know. info@treesftf.org

Trees for the Future runs on a tight budget in regards to both time and money. Our headquarters, The Loret Miller Ruppe Center for Sustainable Development, in Silver Spring, MD is in need of someone with good organizational skills who can help us with mailings, packaging seed, and managing our photo database. For those who prefer to get their hands dirty, there are landscaping projects to tend to on our lot. If you are local to the area and are willing to volunteer for any amount of time during business hours (M-F, 9AM-5PM), please contact us. 301-565-0630