World’s Most Unique Holiday Tree — A gift to the world from the LGBTQ Community Promoting Peace, Love and Humanitarian Action
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World’s Most Unique Holiday Tree — A gift to the world from the LGBTQ Community Promoting Peace, Love and Humanitarian Action
People Around the World Asked to Submit “Wishes for the Future of the World” to be hung on tree decorated with up to 17,000 Folded Origami Cranes — the largest such annual installation on the planet
The 14th Rainbow World Fund “World Tree of Hope”
at Grace Cathedral December 8 – January 11
www.worldtreeofhope.org
13 November 2019 – San Francisco: Wishes are powerful: they are the seeds of action. For the 14th year, those seeds bear fruit. At 23 feet tall with up to 17,000 delicately folded origami paper cranes, the Rainbow World Fund World Tree of Hope is a visible symbol of a world hungry for connection and peace. The Tree will be displayed at San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral (1100 California Street atop Nob Hill) from December 8, 2019 to January 11, 2020, open daily from 8am to 8pm. Since its first year, tens of thousands of wishes have adorned the tree, sent in by email and online from people in over seventy countries.
“We created the World Tree of Hope to inspire hope and to encourage people to think about what they would like for the future of the world, and then take action,” said Jeff Cotter, Rainbow World Fund founder and executive director. “The tree illustrates that while a single person’s offering is valuable, the collective effort of many possesses great power and strength. If each person would do just one small thing that is good for our world today, we will be better off tomorrow than we were yesterday.”
The process is simple: Wishes are sent in from around the world, printed, and folded into paper origami cranes by a diverse team of more than 300 Rainbow World Fund volunteers including members ofSan Francisco’s LGBTQ and Japanese American communities, survivors of the Hiroshima atomic bomb, local children, and life-sentence prisoners from San Quentin. The origami “crane wishes” are then placed on the tree. The process takes over 2500 hours. Wishes may be submitted by mail to RWF World Tree of Hope / 4111 18th Street # 5 / San Francisco, CA 94114 or online at www.worldtreeofhope.org. Submitting a wish is free and open to everyone. Wishes will be added to the tree throughout December and are accepted year round.
Previous notable wishes on the tree have included President Barack Obama, Dame Jane Goodall, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Arianna Huffington, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, Isabel Allende, the late SF Mayor Edwin M. Lee, California Governor Gavin Newsom, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, Mariela Castro, Mātā Amṛtānandamayī Devī, the late Shirley Temple Black, Frances Moore Lappe, Danielle Steel, the late Patty Duke, Sharon Gless, Courtney Cox, David Arquette, Phyllis Diller, Stanlee Gatti and RuPaul. Samples of celebrity and children’s wishes are at https://www.worldtreeofhope.org/celebrity-wishes
“A world for our children more just, more fair, and more kind than the one we know now.” – President Barack Obama
“I dare to wish for a world in which people live in harmony with each other and with the natural world and all the wondrous animals with whom we share the planet.” – Dame Jane Goodall
“The Rainbow World Fund’s World Tree of Hope is a gift to the San Francisco Bay Area and the world express our shared hopes and intentions to create a better, more peaceful world,” says Cotter. “Each crane or star is hand folded and inscribed with wishes for the future of the planet. This is much more than a Holiday decoration: it is a global symbol of unity and hope for a better world and a unique and inspirational feature as we look forward to a new year.”
The Tree was inspired by the story of Sadako Sasaki, the Japanese child whose journey and death several years after the bomb was dropped in Hiroshima transformed the origami crane into a symbol of world peace. The Rainbow World Fund’s World Tree of Hope is the largest annual origami decorated holiday tree in the world.
“The Rainbow World Fund World Tree of Hope taps into two of our most powerful resources – the human mind and heart,” Cotter sums up. “It gives individuals a way to join together to express our hopes and intentions for the future of our global community. It is a celebration of the power of hope — how essential it is to our survival, our healing and humanity”
This will be the third year that Grace Cathedral has hosted the tree. In addition to being a beautiful venue that is open to the public, Grace Cathedral has a tradition of welcoming people of all faiths and spiritualities and being a strong supported of the LGBTQ community. Tree is created by Rainbow World Fund, an LGBTQ based nonprofit. The Tree’s purpose is purely humanitarian with a message one of universal love. It is for everyone regardless of belief or non-belief. The tree was previous displayed at San Francisco City Hall for eleven years.
The RWF World Tree of Hope is made possible through the support of the many volunteers and donors including: members of San Francisco’s LGBTQ and Japanese American communities, Friends of Hibakusha (local survivors of the Hiroshima atomic bomb), Kid CAT (life-sentence prisoners from San Quentin), Sterne School, University High School, Lowell High School key Club, Japanese Community Youth Council, the Junior League of San Francisco, The Bridgemen, One Brick, National Civilian Community Corps, Galileo Academy, Anyon Design, and Salesforce.
The official tree lighting celebration is Tuesday, December 10 from 6:30pm to 8:30pm. The dedication ceremony will featuring attendance by Consul General of Japan Tomochika Uyama and performances by the Grammy winning San Francisco Boys Chorus, Juanita MORE, Lambert Moss, Connie Champagne and Breanna Sinclairé with a blessing by The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence with emcee Honey Mahogany.
Founded by Cotter in 2000, the 501(c)3 nonprofit Rainbow World Fund is the world’s first and only all-volunteer, LGBTQ-based humanitarian aid organization. The Fund works to help people affected by natural disasters, hunger, poverty, disease, oppression and war by raising awareness in, and funds from, the LGBTQ community to support LGBTQ and non-LGBTQ people locally and around the world.
Recent projects in Cuba, Guatemala, Iraq, Mexico, Syria, Uganda and the United States focused on a variety of humanitarian areas including: HIV/AIDS, water development, landmine eradication, hunger, education, orphans, and disaster relief. Rainbow World Fund also works to raise awareness of the charitable contributions of the LGBTQ community, and to establish connections with non-LGBTQ communities around the world based on its philosophy is that we are all “One Human Family” and that we are living in a time that tells us that our survival on this planet depends on us all giving more to each other. Rainbow World Fund’s work changes hearts and minds.
LINKS:
World Tree of Hope: https://www.worldtreeofhope.org
Assets and high-resolution images Tree are at: http://www.rainbowfund.org/images-and-assests
Rainbow World Fund: http://www.rainbowfund.org