Today is #GivingTuesday. We reflect on the meaning of giving. The reason for the name "The Giving Cypress" was inspired by the joy & healing experienced from simply giving Nature some love. (Yes, that’s our motto!)
A bit of history: The Giving Cypress was originally meant to be a philanthropy organization where we give Deaf and hard of hearing children access to literacy through sign language storytelling. Language and social deprivation happens to majority of Deaf children. And often these children do not have Deaf role models to identify with. We want to help change that.
Fortunately, there are other organizations who have similar goals of giving access to ASL literature (ASLized and DawnSignPress, for example). So we have made our focus to raise awareness about Nature and Forest therapy as a way to heal ourselves, our communities, and the planet. This includes doing sign language storytelling projects!
We have a list of books that focus on healing and Nature Connection and we are hoping to start creating more signed stories, starting with The Giving Tree.
So…. Here’s the details of our project:
I have partnered up with members of the Deaf community to create an American Sign Language story that is adapted from The Giving Tree, and will touch on themes about resilience, reciprocity, and creating a deeper connection with the Earth. 🌎
Please help us make this possible. To start, we would need to raise $500 to start this production. We aim for this production to be inclusive- and available in Spanish, International Sign, and ProTactile.
Please support us- give what you can to support this project via these options:
Venmo at @TheGivingCypress
CashApp: $TheGivingCypressLLC
PayPal donation page: https://www.paypal.com/thegivingcypress
If you would like to support in other ways, please contact us by email.
Give Nature some love…. Because, like the Giving Tree, you will receive love back. 💚 🌳 🤟 #reciprocity
#storytelling #powerofstories #natureconnection #reciprocity #resilience #representation #access #languagedeprivation #socialdeprivation #languageaccess #deafchildren #supportdeaf
[video description: Video starts with a blur of a green book (The Giving Tree). A hand opens the book and zooms to the first line of story… “Once There was a Tree…” There is a description explaining the project in the text. There are also photos of the logo of The Giving Cypress, a line drawing of human hugging with a cursive text “Give Nature Some Love”.]