“5 Minutes for 5 Bags”: An Anandvan Initiative For Children In Pune
"5 Minutes for 5 Bags”: An Anandvan Initiative For Children In Pune
The Anandvan Foundation, located on NIBM Road in Kondhwa which works for the preservation of Urban Forests in Pune has begun a summer activity to encourage children to plant trees.
30 May 2024
The summer months are beaded with nostalgia and memories of visiting our grandparents for most of us. Summer was a time when most of our worries could be washed away by standing under a pipe that gushed out water and was held by one of our cousins from the other end. Eating ice popsicles, mouth smeared with mango pulp and spending the night under a sky full of stars was what summer meant for those born in the ’90s and early 2000s.
Alas, new leaves have been turned over, summer for the kids today is another competitive arena comprising co-curricular activities and learning new skills and slaving away in countless summer camps, completely overlooking whatever nature has to offer and missing the chance to reconnect with it.
To pave a greener path for children this summer, the Anandvan Foundation Pune, has initiated a special activity to augment their regular practice of planting trees. Shedding light on the initiative, Bhupesh Sharma, the founder and secretary of the foundation said, “Since it is their summer vacations, we are inviting children to contribute to the tree plantation by filling up nursery bags with soil and planting seeds… we have put up a poster which reads “5 Minutes for 5 Bags” so that any child who visits the nursery can spare whatever little time they have to assist in tree plantation.”
Students from schools like Kalyani school, Bishop’s School and so on, have been visiting the organisation regularly to partake in the activity in addition to those who visit the nursery for walks. So far, approximately 2,000-3,000 bags have been filled. The Anandvan Family has set a target of filling at least 10,000 bags before the monsoon spell enchants the cultural capital of Maharashtra. The Anandvan urban forest movement is an open citizen movement and aims at involving every citizen in the fight against environmental degradation.
