The Tree of Hope – A SF Holiday Tradition
A global holiday project promoting peace, love and humanitarianism by Rainbow World Fund for our community of San Francisco and for all people on earth.
The Tree of Hope is a 20-foot holiday tree that is decorated with thousands of origami cranes and stars that are inscribed with people's wishes and hopes for the future of the world.
Wishes are sent in from all around the world by mail and email http://www.rainbowfund.org/tree/make-a-wish.html at the invitation of Mayor Gavin Newsom, Jennifer Siebel Newsom and Rainbow World Fund (RWF). The wishes are printed and folded into origami cranes by a team of origami enthusiasts including survivors of the atomic bomb. The project is a collaboration between San Francisco's the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) and Japanese American communities and includes the participation of elementary, middle, and high school student in San Francisco. Over a hundred people have come together, donating over 1200 hours to create the tree.
The Tree of Hope was developed by Rainbow World Fund as a gift from the LGBT and friends community to the City that has been so pivotal in our civil rights struggle. The first Tree of Hope was created in 2006 and was displayed at Mayor Newsom's request in the Rotunda of San Francisco City Hall. That location has become the home for the tree. The tree is on display in City Hall for 30 days during the month of December where is it seen daily by thousands of visitors from around the world.
"The Tree of Hope is an exciting community project and a chance for the City of San Francisco's compassion to be seen and heard throughout the world promoting peace and humanitarianism." - Mayor Gavin Newsom.
The tree is inspired by the story of Sadako Sasaki, the little girl whose journey and death several years after the bomb was dropped in Hiroshima, transformed the crane into a symbol of world peace (see Sadako's story below).
Notable contributors include: Dame Jane Goodall, Sen. Barack Obama, Sen. Hillary Clinton, Mayor Gavin Newsom, Frances Moore Lappe, Danielle Steel, and Stanley Gatti.
The Tree of Hope, is created as a way to inspire hope and encourage people to really think about what they would like for the future of the world. The project recognizes the needs and desires of individuals to participate in the global community and offers a way for people from all over the world to come together to express their hopes and intention. Through developing the Tree as a global art project and teaching tool; participation encourages individuals to experience the power of creation and individual action. During the final art display, the general public and Tree of Hope participants see the impact of how each crane, together with the cranes of many others, can become transformed into something beautiful—beyond the scope of one individual's efforts.
"The Tree of Hope joins together individuals of diverse cultures, points of view, spiritual beliefs, socioeconomic backgrounds and sexual identities, and taps into two of our most powerful resources – the human mind and heart – to give individuals a way to join together to express our hopes and intentions for the future of our global community." – Jeff Cotter, founder, Rainbow World Fund
The project also challenges people to get further involved and turn to their intentions into actions to help heal the world by supporting a variety of projects that are making a difference.
Sadako's Story: In 1955, the folded crane became known as a symbol of peace when the world learned the story of Sadako Sasaki. Sadako was two when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. She was home, about one mile from ground zero. Several years later, she developed the disease of the bomb – leukemia. While in the hospital, a friend brought her an origami crane and taught Sadako the Japenese legend that the folder of 1000 cranes is granted a wish. Sadako started folding but grew weaker with time and passed away 356 cranes short of her goal. Her classmates folded the rest. All 1000 were buried with Sadako. On the wings of the cranes, Sadako would write messages. One deeply profound message read, "I will write peace on your wings and you will fly all over the world." Her hope, strength and determination have inspired millions.
The Obama Connection: In June of 2006, Rainbow World Fund founder, Jeff Cotter, was moved by a speech given by then relatively unknown, Senator Barack Obama, that he attended in Washington DC. The speech focused eradicating global poverty and developing partnerships that defy historic cultural separation. The speech reminded Cotter of Francis Moore Lappe's writings on living democracy and the power of hope. Hope had been a driving force behind founding RWF and was something that Cotter worked to instill in everything RWF did.
Upon returning to San Francisco an idea for a global art project that inspired hope started grow. Cotter had also wanted to develop an annual holiday event to bring attention to RWF's work. He thought about the symbols of the season and realized that one of the most powerful was the tree – symbolizing light and transformation as well as protection of the earth. Over the years the tree had become a nearly universal symbol transcending it's pagan roots and Christian history. Cotter had always loved creating art and realized that the tree could serve as a bridge for RWF's message of "One Human Family".
At that time, Paul Stankiewicz, RWF project manager, was reading the book Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes and told Cotter about Sadako Sasaki, a victim of atomic bombing of Hiroshima, and her inspirational story of transformation and hope. Stankiewicz suggested that they create a holiday tree of covered in paper cranes. Cotter took the idea a step further suggesting that the cranes be inscribed with people's wishes and hope for the future of the world as a way to inspire hope and encourage people to really think about what they would like for the future of the world. Cotter realized that the project could indeed be global in that people from anywhere could be invited to send in their wishes via the Internet to be printed and folded into cranes.
