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Volunteers plant trees Friday at Bucklin Park in El Centro on Arbor Day. (LAURA GONZALEZ PHOTO / April 27, 2012) |
A year ago, Ivan Soto set out to do something positive for the Valley. He was tired of people always complaining about not having anything to do here, so he thought he would give them something to do.
He created the Imperial Valley chapter of Project 7, an organization that wants to help people have access to fundamental human needs for a healthy life, according to their Web site.
The Imperial Valley is one of two chapters in California. The other one is located in Northern California, Soto said.
Soto’s mission is to plant as many trees as he can in parks and schools throughout the Valley.
“I’m hoping it will change people’s perspective,” Soto said.
He chose to kick off his tree-planting project Friday in honor of Arbor Day. Some of his friends and a few students from Imperial Valley College got together very early in the morning at Bucklin Park and planted four trees.
“This is my first in a series of tree-planting projects in Imperial Valley,” Soto said.
Every month he tries to do something different to involve the community in his project to do something positive for the Valley.
“Something positive, simple and easy,” he said.
To this day, the funding for his projects has come out of his pocket, but he just wrote his first grant and got a response from a local company based in La Jolla called Imperial Visions Foundation.
The organization took an interest in his tree-planting project and is giving him money to do it.
Soto is very excited because not only is it his first grant, but he also feels people are starting to know the project and are interested in helping the Valley.
Soto has been living here since he was three years old and he considers the Valley to be his hometown. He hopes his project gives the Valley the boost it needs to be as progressive when it comes to being as eco-friendly as big cities like San Diego or San Francisco.
Soto wants to create a chain reaction where people see others do good things and they start replicating them.
“It’s a good feeling giving back, even if you don’t have to,” he said.
Multimedia Producer Laura Gonzalez can be reached at 760-337-3440 or lgonzalez@ivpressonline.com
Join in
To help plant trees, call Ivan Soto at 760-604-7652.
To comment on this story click here to be directed to Facebook.
He created the Imperial Valley chapter of Project 7, an organization that wants to help people have access to fundamental human needs for a healthy life, according to their Web site.
The Imperial Valley is one of two chapters in California. The other one is located in Northern California, Soto said.
Soto’s mission is to plant as many trees as he can in parks and schools throughout the Valley.
“I’m hoping it will change people’s perspective,” Soto said.
He chose to kick off his tree-planting project Friday in honor of Arbor Day. Some of his friends and a few students from Imperial Valley College got together very early in the morning at Bucklin Park and planted four trees.
“This is my first in a series of tree-planting projects in Imperial Valley,” Soto said.
Every month he tries to do something different to involve the community in his project to do something positive for the Valley.
“Something positive, simple and easy,” he said.
To this day, the funding for his projects has come out of his pocket, but he just wrote his first grant and got a response from a local company based in La Jolla called Imperial Visions Foundation.
The organization took an interest in his tree-planting project and is giving him money to do it.
Soto is very excited because not only is it his first grant, but he also feels people are starting to know the project and are interested in helping the Valley.
Soto has been living here since he was three years old and he considers the Valley to be his hometown. He hopes his project gives the Valley the boost it needs to be as progressive when it comes to being as eco-friendly as big cities like San Diego or San Francisco.
Soto wants to create a chain reaction where people see others do good things and they start replicating them.
“It’s a good feeling giving back, even if you don’t have to,” he said.
Multimedia Producer Laura Gonzalez can be reached at 760-337-3440 or lgonzalez@ivpressonline.com
Join in
To help plant trees, call Ivan Soto at 760-604-7652.
To comment on this story click here to be directed to Facebook.
