The initiator behind Stage Tree, the fundraiser festival on Friday May 29, now has five years of experience organizing fundraising campaigns for Trees for All. “Each time it’s with different groups of friends and under different group names. I started in my second year of secondary school in Rotterdam with a sponsored run. That was fairly simple. Another year, I raised 1,200 euros by decorating an entire path leading to a forest with chalk drawings of trees and asking passersby for donations.”

Together with friends from secondary school, they also created four nature documentaries: about birds, the Wadden Sea, the stars, and trees. Interested viewers could buy a link for 5 euros to watch the final documentary. 

Trees for All 

Because Philippen posted these campaigns on the Trees for All action platform, the organization took notice. “Two years ago, people from Trees for All reached out and asked if I wanted to help physically plant the trees as well. I joined twice, together with other volunteers. The last time was at the Bonnenpolder in Zuid-Holland, where we planted 2,000 trees together.”

Philippen is happy about the connection—and proud as well. “Last year, I was featured in their annual report.”

The tree-planting projects are carried out in collaboration with environmental organizations and municipalities. Sponsors can help decide where the trees will be planted. Philippen says that half of the trees are planted in the Netherlands and the other half abroad. “For example, in the Amazon region. In the Netherlands, Trees for All also plants food forests.”

Stage Tree

The group names they choose always relate to the project itself: Barendbomen, Pubernatuur, and this year Cultuurboom. “We’re calling the open stage event on May 29 Stage Tree. There will be a comedy act, a dance performance, and around ten small music performances. We’ll end the evening with Pulse, the band of our study association Intermate.”

Philippen will personally take the stage four times as a pianist and guitarist: once with a group of friends from TU/e, once with friends from Rotterdam, once with housemates from Eindhoven, and once together with their younger sibling.

Wasven

The organizer is especially happy with the location of the event, which took quite some searching. “In the end, Studium Generale really helped by suggesting the Wasven nature area and care farm. It’s right among the trees!”

The fact that Wasven focuses on people, culture, and nature strongly appeals to them. “It’s a beautiful location, close to campus. If the weather forecast is bad, they’ll place a tent over the stage.”

The students are aiming to sell one hundred tickets. They are still far from that goal, but Philippen remains confident that more tickets will be sold this week and that it will be a pleasant evening regardless. And besides: “Every tree counts.” For people who cannot come to Wasven on May 29 but would still like to support the campaign, a donation link is available on the same website.

This article was translated using AI-assisted tools and reviewed by an editor.