Contact: Kate Nare Marketing Coordinator (858) 274-3718 Office (925) 872-1642 Cell kate@plantwithpurpose.

org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Plant With Purpose Hits New Milestone: Six Million Trees Planted Worldwide Environmental nonprofit combats poverty by planting trees
SAN DIEGO March 8, 2011 Plant With Purpose, a nonprofit organization working internationally to reverse poverty and deforestation among the rural poor, reaches a new milestone of six million trees planted worldwide. As a result, thousands of poor rural farmers have been empowered to improve the quality of life for their families and communities. Plant With Purpose was founded in 1984 on the premise that traditional international relief practices were not sufficient for long-term solutions to poverty. Eighty percent of the worlds poor live in rural areas, and one of the primary problems found to cause rural poverty was deforestation and degradation of the environment. Just by planting trees, farmers benefit from improved quality of soil, which leads to greater land productivity, helping to feed their families and provide additional crops to sell in markets. "Six million trees is a lot, said Plant With Purpose Executive Director, Scott Sabin, but really it is just a small indicator of the transformation we have witnessed as whole communities have had fruitfulness and prosperity restored. Over the past few years we have seen an exponential growth in our programs - we are planting more trees every year than we did in our first fifteen years combined, and I am excited to see what the next couple of years will bring." Plant With Purpose works in Haiti, Mexico, Tanzania, Thailand, the Dominican Republic, and Burundi. Over the next five years, the organization has high goals of planting one million trees per year, and hopes to expand its work into five additional countries. For interview inquiries, or for additional information on Plant With Purpose, including videos or photos, please contact Kate Nare at kate@plantwithpurpose.org. About Plant With Purpose Plant With Purpose (www.plantwithpurpose.org) is a Christian environmental non-profit that transforms lives in rural areas worldwide where poverty is caused by deforestation. Focusing on holistic solutions to poverty, Plant With Purpose has been restoring the lives of the rural poor for nearly 27 years by planting trees, implementing sustainable agriculture programs, creating economic opportunity through micro-finance and microenterprise, and offering spiritual renewal.