We are pleased to introduce Lee D. Hwang, Founder and Executive Director of the Quality of Life Foundation to our community. In addition to running a non-profit, Lee serves as the Executive Director of Hanover Investments LLC, and as Senior Advisor to the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley. This very accomplished Harvard Law graduate shares the background and future work of the Foundation with us:
1. What is the mission of the Quality of Life Foundation? What are your goals? The Quality of Life Foundation is a small San Francisco-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit startup that seeks to engage volunteers to plant trees in public spaces in order to build stronger and healthier individuals, communities, and ecosystems. We also give foundation grants to educational and conservation programs that are aligned with the Foundation's goals. Our goal is provide our grass-roots volunteers with opportunities to experience joy and community building in the simple act of planting trees.
2. What are some of the activities that you have planned for the organization? We are planning our first tree planting events for December -- the idea being that instead of buying Christmas trees (which are cut down and soon thrown away), families and friends could get together to plant trees for loved ones, which could be a more meaningful way to celebrate the holidays. We are looking for potential sites in the Bay Area -- in particular San Francisco, Marin County, and the East Bay. The inspiration for the tree planting program came from my travels through the Amazonian rainforest in Brazil, as well as from the work of Wangari Maathai, who won the Nobel Peace Prize about five years ago for leading a tree planting and social justice movement (the Green Belt movement) in Kenya. In Brazil, I came to appreciate firsthand the importance of trees as the foundation of any sustainable ecosystem. Since then, I have personally experienced the joy, camaraderie, and satisfaction of planting trees in several locations around the Bay Area and beyond. When we plant trees, we are planting seeds of hope for the future. 3. How did Quality of Life Foundation come about? I founded the Quality of Life Foundation as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in 2007. We have given large grants to some worthy education and conservation programs in the Bay Area and beyond. The largest recipients are the UC Berkeley Greater Good Science Center, the Ph.D. program in Positive Psychology at the Claremont Graduate School of Behavioral and Organizational Sciences, and the Plant a Billion Trees campaign at the Nature Conservancy. We are now starting up our own tree planting program to have more of a direct impact. Right now, we are aggressively expanding. 4. You are recruiting a Chief Happiness Officer? Yes, we are in the process of hiring a Chief Happiness Officer, whose job will be to take charge of fulfilling the Quality of Life Foundation's community-building mission. Specific responsibilities will include strategic planning, building partnerships with businesses, other nonprofits, and federal, state, and local public agencies (including parks and schools), and planning and coordination of public tree planting events. If you know of anyone interested in the position, please encourage them to visit our website to download an application. Applications will be due Friday, March 26, 2010. The desired start date is April 2010. Photo courtesy of Lincolnian (Brian)
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