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“Planting Peace” Sets Down Roots In New York

When they hand out cups of water to passersby on Saturdays, volunteers with Planting Peace are doing more than helping people quench their thirst.

“We give out free water to help with the heat situation. It attracts people to our stand,” said Aaron Jackson, 30, the organization’s president and co-founder.

Their stand is a table, set up that day in Washington Square Park and covered with pamphlets detailing how Planting Peace is addressing a range of issues confronting the poor, sick, orphans and other human beings and preserving the Earth.

“So far, we’ve planted 1 million trees,” in 10 nations, including the United States, Jackson said. Protecting environmentally endangered rain forests also is one of their goals.

Founded in Orlando, Fla., in 2004, Planting Peace this year moved its headquarters to more heavily populated New York City. That will help raise the group’s visibility, including among the Big Apple’s hordes of tourists, organizers said.

One of those organizers is Robert Gisser, 20, Planting Peace’s field manager. He left a previous, paid position in corporate marketing to do more meaningful work as a volunteer, Gisser said.

“We’re out here for a cause so why do we need to get paid these extra amounts of money when we’re trying to help kids?” Gisser said. “That’s our goal. We’re here to do charity work.”

Daniel Lord, 17, finds that sense of mission appealing.

“I might be looking to volunteer,” said Lord, who checked out the Planting Peace pamphlets and chatted with Jackson on that recent day in Washington Square Park.

Planting Peace volunteers told Lord that curing one child of deadly intestinal worms costs about 1.5 cents, a fact that surprised him, Lord said.

Planting Peace started its “Stomp the Worm” project in 2005, according to the non-profit group’s Web site, to tackle that problem, which is widespread in certain impoverished parts of the world. The project was profiled by CNN in 2007.

Jackson’s first encounter with worms, the most common infection affecting deprived communities worldwide, began during a 2004 trip to Haiti.

“I happened to find money in my pocket and chose a child to de-worm there,” said Jackson, recalling that he found lone $20 bill in the pockets of old pair of jeans while there. It was the first money he spent on de-worming.

“The mother of the child came up to me and told me her child would have passed away if I didn’t help. She was crying, I was crying.”

Planting Peace aims to de-worm one million children each month.

On Twitter @Abby_Weinstein.