BAPS Charities hosted Walk Green 2019 in Laurel, Maryland on May 5, 2019, where over 260 participants braved rainy weather to join hands with The Nature Conservancy to combat the increasingly urgent impacts of climate change and global warming. In addition, the walk also supported the Beltsville Volunteer Fire Department and Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School.
This marked the fourth year of partnership with The Nature Conservancy and support of their “Plant a Billion Trees” program, which aims to plant one billion trees by 2025. The Nature Conservancy actively conserves the lands and waters on the earth to sustain life for upcoming generations. Walk Green 2019 will help The Nature Conservancy plant 61,000 additional trees in 2019. During the last four years, from 2016 to 2019, BAPS Charities’ Walkathons have helped plant a total of 361,000 trees. Keynoting the opening ceremonies were Laurel Mayor Craig Moe, Nature Conservancy ecologist Deborah Landau, Beltsville Fire Chief Mike Adams, and MLK Middle School Principal Dr. Rotunda Floyd-Cooper.
Over 23,000 walkers in over 76 cities in North America, generations of change makers—from 6-year-old first-time fundraisers to senior citizens—came together, raising funds to combat climate change. This commitment to improving human welfare and supporting the natural environment are key to BAPS Charities central messages across the country—a spirit of selfless service locally and globally embodied by BAPS’s spiritual leaders. Events such as the Walkathon help instill consciousness in community members surrounding their actions, in turn, inspiring global harmony with nature.
