KnowledgeTree Plants Trees at African School as Part of Green Initiative

Lindy's picture
by Lindy on Tue, 18 May 2010

In October 2009, KnowledgeTree launched a green IT promotion in conjunction with Food & Trees for Africa, a South African social enterprise that addresses climate change action and sustainable development through greening and permaculture food gardening. For every new commercial sale over $4500, as well as for every 1000th registered community installation during the promotional period, we promised to plant a tree in a disadvantaged African community. Why did we do this? Because:

  • Even though KnowledgeTree helps customers reduce paper waste through electronic document management, we wanted to do more.
  • Not only do trees help the planet by improving air quality, they also cheer and beautify neighborhoods, bring people together and provide hope for the future.

When the promotional period came to an end in April, KnowledgeTree donated all the trees derived from the campaign to an underprivileged school in Sea-Winds, Cape Town.

Zerilda Park Primary School, a school consisting of 1,300 students (500 of whom receive government-provided meals), is in a culturally diverse, poverty-stricken area. A mix of fruit and indigenous trees will provide the local community with produce, greatly enhance the dry, barren school grounds, and give much needed shade while also beautifying the neighborhood.

The tree planting event, held on April 29, was attended by John Thorne (KnowledgeTree COO), Desmond Winkworth (Food & Trees for Africa), Hilton Palanyandi (Zerilda Headmaster), KnowledgeTree employees, and the students themselves. The event was commemorated by a special school assembly, a rendition of Michael Jackson’s “Heal the World” sung by the school choir, and a student Q&A session discussing the importance of trees. Students and KnowledgeTree employees alike rolled up their sleeves, dug holes, and planted the trees on the school grounds to promote sustainability and beautify the area.

Thank you to all of the KnowledgeTree customers, and community members who helped make this happen. We appreciate your support for this important environmental effort.

More photos of the event can be viewed on the KnowledgeTree Facebook page.