His name is Balbir Mathur of Wichita and he is the founder of a very quiet organization called Trees for Life. His organization operates on a world-wide basis helping people...but my guess is, you have never heard of it. Tonight, a man who believes that helping people isn't about money. It's about empowering people with knowledge.

(Music)

“People come to understand that their basic hindrance is not in the lack of resources, but in the lack of knowledge.”

Trees for Life is located in this old school building in Wichita. But its power lies in the quiet hearts of the people whose vision branches out all over the world.

“What is this….yes, you are right.”

Working together their silence is changing lives.

“And everyday I come and I look forward to coming here because I find that I can dance with the angels literally.”

It started with Balbir Mathur from India, who came to this country and studied business management. But through his extensive world travels he saw a need – a need to fight poverty and world hunger.

“People don’t need giveaways, people need hope, people need knowledge.”

In 1983, he founded Trees for Life, a non-profit agency that most think simply helps people in poor countries plant trees. But it is so much more than that.

(Jill Docking – Trees for Life Supporter) “If you are passionate about it you want people to have the dignity to help themselves and I think what Trees for Life does particularly well is show people how to help themselves.”

Balbir empowers people in poor countries with information and shows them that working together means they will grow together.

“One of the fundamental resources is that a few people can get together and lock their minds as one, something extra ordinary takes place.”

(Jill Docking) “It was hope in its clearest and most beautiful sense that I’ve ever seen.”

“We have to do our best right now, but think a thousand years ahead, how will your actions affect how we live because they do.”

Trees for Life organization is like the roots of a giant tree…..unseen, quiet, but so necessary for growth. By working with people and letting them see the power of their own minds, this nearly invisible organization is changing the world, one tree, one life, one heart at a time.

‘It’s like a beautiful symphony going on and I don’t know the entire music and I can’t see the entire cast. I just have to play my small instrument and do the very best that I possibly can.”

(Natural sound)

“Whatever you learn – teach it to two other people and ask them to do the same.”

(Music)

“We say to people that you have unlimited potential and we sincerely and honestly believe that.”

(Jill Docking) “Wow, what a legacy. I can’t think of anything better.”

(Jill Docking) “Balbir is an angel; you know…..he is a gift from God.”

“Hi brother!”

(Music end)

Larry's Note: Trees for Life is located at 3006 West St. Louis street in Wichita. They can be reached by phone at: 1-800-873-3736