Molėtai district to plant 1,300 apple trees named for children

Molėtai district will plant the first of 1,300 apple trees named after children this autumn, LRT reports. The initiative invites people to give an apple tree to a first-grader or another schoolchild and receive its harvest as a gift each September.

As the child progresses from first to 12th grade, the tree will grow alongside them in Molėtai district. The harvest from the named tree will be sent to the child each September, according to Gytė Liorančaitė, head of the personalised gifts project Obuolynas.

The project plans to plant several hundred trees this autumn and expand the orchard across 2.6 hectares over the next few years. Its organisers said the idea was created for people looking for a meaningful gift instead of another short-lived or ordinary item.

Recipients will know where their tree is growing and will be able to visit it, take photographs and collect a record of its growth. The organisers said that if the tree is given to a first-grader, it should be taller than the child by the time they reach 12th grade.

Apple trees ordered by mid-September will be planted this autumn. The Obuolynas project provides a certificate, a personalised nameplate, tree care, seasonal updates and the opportunity to visit the tree.

In May, the project was recognised as the initiative that had made the greatest progress in the Creative Business Accelerator organised by the Innovation Agency.