Green ‘S’ Welfare Force Planting Days—14 – 15 May 2016

We are very happy to once again have the Shah Satnam Ji Green ‘S’ Welfare Force assisting us with our restoration planting. This is the fourth year in a row that the group has planted trees at CUE Haven and we really enjoy working with them and appreciate all their hard work and selfless service.  The Green ‘S’ Welfare Force team members have planted almost half of all the restoration trees planted at CUE Haven —an amazing contribution!

The Shah Satnam Ji Green ‘S’ Welfare Force was formed in India by Saint Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Ji Insan in 2006. Originally intended to help humanity in distress by mobilising during natural disasters, the organisation has expanded its membership and scope. In addition to disaster relief work, members worldwide are also involved in environmental clean-up projects, blood donor drives, anti-drug campaigns and tree planting to help the environment.

All of the members in New Zealand work or go to school during the week and devote their weekends to volunteer service.

Over the weekend we had 44 Green ‘S’ Force (GSF) members out to help us plant. Some worked one or both days and four members even drove up from Hamilton to assist for a day! We knew many of the members from last year but there were also several new people and it was great catching up with old friends and making new ones.

As the group arrived on Saturday we had a sudden rain shower, but the rainbow predicted that it would be a great weekend!

On Saturday the team included Ankit, Arshdeep, Astha, Bharpoor, Dalveer, Gursewak, Harjit, Harpreet, Jagmeet, Jagveer, Jasneet, Jaspreet, Jugseer, Karamjeet, Karmjit, Krishnan, Kulwant, Major, Napinder, Naresh, Nitash, Parminder (Pari), Parminder, Ramesh, Ranjit, Sandeep, Simar, Suhas, Sukhjeet, Veerpal, and Vinod.

Also joining the GSF Saturday team for part of the day were our student volunteers Fahad, Johnsen & Mohammed.

The GSF team on Sunday included Ankit, Arshdeep, Balwant, Bharpoor, Davinder, Gagandeep, Harpreet, Jaspreet, Kapil, Karmjit, Kulwant, Major, Navjot, Nitash, Parminder, Parminder S., Pooja, Prem, Rakesh, Ranjit, Saman, Simar, Simranjeet, Subhanshu, Suhas and Sukhjeet.

Each day we got acquainted over morning tea and then gave a safety briefing and orientation.

After that, the first task was to load up the truck with plants.

Ranjit, who is also a professional photographer has taken some great pictures at previous planting days.  This weekend he brought along a drone and an action cam to take interesting perspective shots of the group at work.

This year’s planting site is at the very top of the property—about a kilometre from the cottage. It was too far to walk up so we drove the team up in smaller groups.  Before they started work, the team said a short prayer.

We then kept supplying the team with plants and they quickly made progress.

Arshdeep made sure the team was drinking enough liquids to keep themselves well hydrated while planting.

And the hard working team even took their breaks in the field.

At the end of each day, we collected all of the empty pots and trays and brought them back down for recycling.

The teams on both days decided to work well into the afternoon and then finish the day with a very late lunch which gave everyone a chance to relax and socialise.

The weather was perfect on both days and by the end of the day on Sunday the team had as usual exceeded our expectations and planted a huge number of trees.  As a result of the team’s efforts we are well on our way to reaching our planting goal for this year.

A very BIG thank you to everyone who came out this weekend.  We so appreciate your hard work, enthusiasm and dedication, and very much value your contribution to CUE Haven and our planet.

We really enjoy working with you all this weekend and look forward to seeing you back at CUE Haven soon as we continue our planting season.  MANY THANKS again!