“Trees for Goals” greens up communities in win-win educational program

In Taiwan, football isn’t yet a mainstream sport. To support the development of football and help green up local communities, NGOs decided to implement the “Trees for Goals” program, in which participating school teams are given a small-flowered camphor tree sapling for every goal scored in competitions by students. Leaves and twigs that fall from trees during the growing process will be used for arts and crafts, and one-third of the proceeds from sales will be used to support students from low-income families.

At the end of last year, the “Trees for Goals” program moved to Taipei for the first time, and Mingdao Elementary School in Wenshan District got planted up with lots of tree saplings. As these saplings grow into large trees, they will witness the children’s growth in football and help teach the spirit of giving to receive along the way.

以下為中文對照

在台灣，足球並不是主流運動，為了支持足球發展和綠化環境的融合，就有民間團體決定推行「以樹養球」計劃。參與計劃的學校足球隊只要在比賽中踢進一顆球，就可以換取一棵以學生命名的牛樟樹樹苗，在生長過程中掉下來的樹葉和樹幹會製成文創產品，賣出去後三分之一的收益會用來補助低收入家庭學生。

上年年底「以樹養球」首次搬到台北，文山區明道國小校園內這一片草地都種滿了牛樟樹，從小樹苗變大樹，見證著孩子在足球路的成長，教育他們付出才有收穫的精神。

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