About The

Children And Elders Forest

The Children & Elders Forest is an organization that facilitates intergenerational team-building. Each children and elder team sponsors a tree to be planted in the Bloomington-Normal area. The teams consist of at least one child and one elder. Many teams are a grandparent and a child. Other teams are much larger and include 4H Clubs, Church Youth Groups, and elders of importance to their organization.

The Children & Elders Forest started in 2005. Joe Grabill brought the idea back with him from Europe. On a trip to Germany to visit his daughter and grandchildren, his granddaughter took him to a beautiful grove of trees. His granddughter pointed out that all the trees had a little plaque by them. This was a kindergrove. Every child in the villiage has a tree of their very own.

Joe expanded on this idea to include elders, solicited additional volunteers, and on November 19, 2005 95 teams of around 500 children and elders and children planted the first grove, Turtle Grove. This grove is located in Maxwell Park in Normal, Illinois. It consists of 95 trees and 20 different species.

We are still going strong today with 6 groves being planted in the Bloomington-Normal area.