9 ways to support the Lemon Tree Trust

December 18, 2020

We are regularly asked by people around the world about how they can support our activities. We are incredibly grateful for your support! 💚

Here are nine ways you can help spark and change conversations around forcibly displaced people.

1. Make a donation

This helps us maintain our existing projects and plan new ones. Regular donations are ideal, as are one-off amounts.

2. Donate seeds to our perennial appeal

Update: October 2021 – For the moment we have enough seeds and are pausing on accepting donations. This is thanks to the incredible response we’ve had to our appeal to date. We’ve been overwhelmed by people’s generosity and are still busy redistributing fruit, flower and vegetable seeds to refugee gardening projects. Instead, if you are able to do so, we welcome a monetary donation to further support our gardening activities. Thank you.

We will send your seed donations to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, Greece and other Lemon Tree Trust projects via partner organisations as and when we can AND we will distribute seed to UK and USA based refugee-led gardening projects.

3. Tell us if you know of or help run a refugee gardening project

We can help provide seeds and family-friendly gardening activity resources in Arabic, Farsi and English. Email us at [email protected].

4. Tell friends and family about us and like and share our social content

It all helps us extend our reach and change the way people who have been forced from their homes are thought of and treated. Please follow us on:

5. Learn more about the people we support

We are all human and most of the people we work with have faced unimaginable choices and hardships. The stories and films on our website are a start, but we would also recommend reading or watching the following:

War Gardens by Lalage Snow (book) **We have a few copies remaining via our special book offer – find out more over on Instagram**
The Last Gardener of Aleppo (UK Channel 4 short video report)
Soufra (film)
Human Flow (film)

6. Find a local organisation supporting people who have been forced from their homes and offer your time and love

We can all help change the narrative around forced migrants by getting involved and showing we care.

7. Adopt Lemon Tree Trust as your organisation’s charity of the year

If the business you work for has a corporate social responsibility policy and you would like to propose Lemon Tree Trust or if you’re a business owner and you are considering donating a percentage of profits from a product/service, we would have love to chat with you to tell you more about our work and send you any relevant literature. Please send a quick intro message to [email protected] and we’ll take it from there.

8. Send one of our delicious Syrian recipe cards to a loved one

Print at home and post or email the recipes to your friends and family to enjoy while staying home or shielding due to Covid-19.

Khanem’s Tawa: This traditional Syrian main course has layers of beef, aubergine, tomato and potato. Think of it a bit like a dairy free moussaka. The addition of lemon and parsley freshen and lift this filling meal. Recipe serves eight people.
Nosheen’s Kousa Mahshi: You’ll need a little patience for this recipe but we think the result is well worth the effort. These stuffed courgettes and tomatoes with beef and rice serve four people. To make this recipe vegetarian, replace the beef with chickpeas.
Noora’s Molokhia with Chicken & Simple Tabbouleh: Molokhia, or jute mallow, is a popular ingredient of middle eastern dishes and is grown widely by gardeners in refugee and IDP camps in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. This delicious recipe for molokhia with chicken has an accompanying tabbouleh recipe. Each recipe serves eight people.

9. Receive our regular email newsletter

Join our global community of gardeners and receive updates about developments at the Lemon Tree Trust direct to your inbox by signing up to our newsletter.