A Work of Heart

Green Magazine Hawaii

By Jennifer Sudick

A new Hawai‘i website has shoppers seeing green.

The nonprofit Hawaiian Legacy Reforestation Initiative (HLRI) has planted nearly 400,000 endemic and native trees for permanent reforestation across 1,200 acres on Hawai‘i Island. Now, HLRI has launched legacyforestgifts.com, an online store offering artisan-made goods and one-of-a-kind words of art both for purchase and as gifts for the tax-deductible sponsorship of the organization’s koa Legacy Trees.

“Legacy Gifts provides the opportunity to put rare trees like koa and Hawaiian sandalwood in the ground while supporting Hawai‘i’s environment and our renowned artisans,” says Jeff Dunster, executive director of HLRI.

Handmade items include intricate milo calabashes by award-winning Hawai‘i Island woodworker Scott Hare and vintage signs by renowned Hawai‘i sign maker Steven Neill.

While some pieces come free of charge only when you sponsor more than 400 tree plantings, smaller items, like branded leather messenger bags, are available as gifts for sponsoring fewer than two dozen trees. Certain items, including jewelry, water bottles and rare koa blossom honey harvested in the forest, are available only by purchase.

All proceeds support HLRI’s reforestation efforts. For more information on sponsoring a Legacy Tree through HLRI, visit legacytrees.org.