GFF Partners with Air Race Classic to Plant 1000 Trees in Haiti

The Green Family Foundation has partnered with the Air Race Chics for the 2010 Air Race Classic, an air derby that will span across nine states honoring and celebrating 100 years of women in aviation. The collaboration will not only uplift female pilots, but it will also benefit Carbonfund.org, an international nonprofit organization that supports renewable energy, energy efficiency and reforestation projects throughout the world.

"The Green Family Foundation sees this as an opportunity to elevate the important contribution that women have made through aviation and connecting it to our international work, which has focused on bringing sustainable development to Haiti. We are committed to working towards achieving the millennium development goals, one being environmental sustainability.  This initiative assists in the effort towards restoring Haiti’s fragile ecosystem through tree planting. We are glad to be able to have the opportunity to link these groups to each other and to share with the world creative and alternative ways to help Haiti and the planet," says Kimberly Green, President, Green Family Foundation.

This year, South Florida-based pilots Kristen Jurn and Mayte Greco (the Air Race Chics) are flying the four-day, women-only air race that will take place on June 22, beginning in Fort Myers, Florida and ending in Frederick, Maryland. This is the 34th annual Air Race Classic, but 2010 marks the 100th year anniversary of Licensed Women Pilots (1910-2010). Air Race teams consist of two women pilots flying a course for four days under visual flight rules (VFR). Navigational skills and experience savvy will determine the leaders during the journey and define the winners at the finish line in Frederick, MD.

The Green Family Foundation is sponsoring Jurn and Greco's flight. The Air Race Chics have pledged to donate a portion of their sponsorship to Carbonfund.org in order to plant 1000 trees in Haiti as part of Carbonfund.org’s Million Tree Challenge (www.carbonfund.org/trees).

Carbonfund.org has partnered with Trees for the Future, the organization that will eventually plant the trees in Haiti. Trees for the Future helps rural groups around the world plant trees and funds seed distribution, agro-forestry training, and country programs aimed to restore tree cover in countries worldwide.

Haiti is severely deforested, and its citizens experience life-threatening floods and mudslides because of rampant soil erosion. The 2010 earthquake has further complicated Haiti's forestation issues, making tree-planting donations more important for Haiti now than ever.

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