Corporate donations
515 new trees for Beckum thanks to school project
The pupils of the Roncalli School in Neubeckum were quite astonished: together with initiator Dieter Könnes and Mayor Michael Gerdhenrich as well as their headmistress Camilla Stoelzel, they gradually opened the reply letters they had received from around 30 companies in Beckum. They had previously approached numerous companies personally with a request to donate money for trees. In the end, an impressive total of 515 new trees were planted in Beckum thanks to the school project.
The campaign on Friday morning is part of the "NRW plants - One million trees for North Rhine-Westphalia" project organised by the ROBIN GUT Foundation, in which the Roncalli School is participating together with the town of Beckum. As part of this campaign, the primary school children actively addressed the topics of climate protection, reforestation and sustainable behaviour. "When individuals unite behind a good idea, great things can happen," says Mayor Michael Gerdhenrich, praising the commitment of the children and Beckum's businesses. "The town of Beckum has been treading the path of sustainability, climate protection and innovation for years," adds the head of administration, who is delighted with the donated trees. They will be planted on 19 March together with the participating pupils from Roncalli School in the area of the Wersegrünzug south of Ahlener Straße. Presenter Dieter Könnes adds: "Beckum is a pilot municipality for North Rhine-Westphalia and this is the starting signal for the hoped-for 1 million new trees throughout North Rhine-Westphalia."
Educational lectures and a podcast
What makes trees so valuable? Why are mixed forests so important for the climate? How does the tree system work? On today's action day, forest ranger Martin Kuchling provided child-friendly answers to these exciting questions. And Sven Husmann from Recoll Europe explained the circular economy using the example of printer cartridges and smartphones.
After the instructive lessons and the evaluation of the donations, the ROBIN GUT Foundation produced a podcast at the Roncalli School to make the project even more visible - hosted by the foundation's founder and TV presenter Dieter Könnes.
Donations also fill the coffers of the sponsoring organisation
The children's families were also able to take part in the fundraising campaign. A nice side effect: 20 per cent of the donations went directly back into the school's support association. On the campaign day, pupils presented other projects relating to environmental and climate protection at their school. For example, there are water bottle tests and vegetarian test eaters. And while learning about the bar chart, an internal survey was conducted on the journey to school: Just 3 months after the diagram was published, significantly fewer pupils were travelling to school by "parent taxi".
Target: 1,000 trees plus X for Beckum: take part now and do double the good!
With 515 trees donated, an important milestone has been reached. But the goal is: 1,000 trees plus X for Beckum. The City of Beckum's Urban Planning and Economic Development Department is therefore looking forward to receiving further donations at www.nrw-pflanzt.de for new trees in Beckum. The ROBIN GUT Foundation calculates a donation amount of 20 euros per tree.
ROBIN GUT Foundation
It all began with the journalist Dieter Könnes and his commitment to the flooded Ahr Valley in the summer of 2021. Together with Clemens Meiß and Wieland Schmoll from the Cologne-based communications agency Get the Point, he founded ROBIN GUT, the initiative for sustainable living, which Nadine Büscher also joined in 2024. Dieter Könnes and Nadine Büscher founded the ROBIN GUT Foundation in 2025 based on the idea of not only being active in the Ahr Valley in the future and not just planting trees.
NRW plants
NRW plants is a state-wide initiative of the ROBIN GUT Foundation, which has set itself the goal of planting 1 million trees in North Rhine-Westphalia. The project brings together municipalities, cities, schools, companies and committed citizens to make a tangible contribution to climate protection. According to the foundation, around 500,000 hectares of German forest are already so damaged that they urgently need to be reforested - the equivalent of more than 700,000 football pitches. In the campaign, schoolchildren become active climate ambassadors and collect donations for trees. Local authorities provide land and support local planting campaigns. Companies and private individuals take responsibility with their donations and plant the future.