How a tree works
One family. One place. A year of people.
One family. One community. About thirty people. Twelve months from the day it opens. That is a tree. This page says what each part is, in order.
The four parts
The tree, the leaves, the glass, the circle.
01 The person
The tree.
One person facing a serious illness, in a real place. Their tree is named for them, and nobody outside the circle ever sees it.
02 The support
Each leaf is someone who helps.
A neighbour, a cousin, someone from the choir. Each takes a seat for the year and leaves a leaf: a meal, a lift, an hour.
03 The protection
The glass keeps it private.
What happens inside stays inside. No family on a public page, no names to a business, nothing about the illness, ever.
04 Together
The circle.
About thirty of her people, for twelve months. The calendar fills, so nothing falls on one person.
The year
How a year works. Given on a date, closed in December.
A seat runs twelve months from the day it opens. The year is the unit because illness does not keep to a weekend. Meals in March matter as much as meals in the first week. The tree is there for all of it.
1 The start
Kim starts it.
Someone who knows the family says who it is for, where, and the day it opens. Kim prepares the tree, private until it is shared.
2 Days one to five
Five days of Kim’s notes.
The connectors share it into their own groups. Anyone who knows the family can take a seat, from a dollar a day, and Kim sends one short note a day. There is no number to reach.
3 The fifth day
The gift is given.
The tree goes to the family, private to the circle. It waits until anyone in the family opens it, that week or months later.
4 All year
A year of people.
Meals, lifts, an hour on a long afternoon. The family says what would help; the circle takes what fits. A short week note on Sundays.
5 Twelve months on
The end note.
The year closes. The family keeps the record of what grew: the visits, the meals, the people. Nothing renews by itself.
In full
How a tree starts, step by step.
A public ask.
A tree starts where a family has already asked for help in public: a campaign, a prayer list, a community page, tied to a community and a place. We never build a list of the people who answered it. We never message them one by one.
Kim starts the tree.
Named for the person, marked “Started by Kim”, and private until it is shared. It is never filled with placeholder names. Kim is software, and says so.
Five connectors.
Kim writes to up to five people who can carry it: the person who asked, and the people who lead the community it belongs to, each reached through their public role. One message each, signed Love from, Kim · Kindness in Motion. Each is offered one of the five held seats. A STOP is honoured; nothing more unless they reply.
They share it.
Into their own groups. Everyone who knows the family has five days to take a seat, from a dollar a day. The tree grows only where the circle can see it.
The gift is given.
On the fifth day, to the person and their family, private to the circle. It waits until anyone in the family opens it. Nothing is expected back, and there is no refund once a tree is given: the gift is the circle, and the circle is already there.
The roster forms.
The circle covers the hours it can: meals, lifts, company. Paid local help, by the hour, covers the heavy and antisocial hours the circle cannot. The tree pays for that. The family does not.
Who is in it
Inside is who shows up. Outside is who pays.
The two never touch.
About thirty people
The seats
A neighbour, a cousin, someone from the choir, the team, the office. A seat is paid, from a dollar a day for the year. It is a promise to show up, with a date on it. The patient and the caregiver never pay and are not counted.
Paid by the underwriting
Five held seats
Named by the connectors: themselves, and the people who should be inside and cannot pay to be. The friend between jobs. The retired neighbour. Nobody inside knows which seats are held. Nobody is ever told.
Up to four businesses
The roots
Local businesses that pay, in advance, for a year of Tree credits in their own ZIP, one per category. A root gets the Root mark (K and its year), “rooted here by” its name, and a report in December. Never a name inside, never the family’s details.
The place the year is held in
The room
A school, a club, a team, a workplace, a faith community, a neighbourhood. It lends its name and its door. It does not pay, does not get paid, and never handles money.
For a community, in full
The glass
Three states of glass. Private at every one.
Frosted
Seen from outside. You can tell a tree is there; you cannot see in.
Glowing
Her people are planting. It has been given, and it has not been opened yet.
Clear
Inside the Glass. Only for her, and the people she lets in.
The status words
Seven words, the same on every page.
A tree is always in one of seven states. The word is the same on every page, inside and out.
- DraftKim has started it. Private. Nobody outside the operating team can see it, and nothing about the family moves.
- SharedA connector has shared it into their own group. People who know the family can take a seat.
- StormThe five days. Seats are taken, leaves are left. Local businesses in the same place may root the tree without anyone being named.
- GivenThe gift is given to the family, private to the circle. It waits until anyone in the family opens it.
- ActiveSomeone in the family opened it. The year is running: the calendar, the asks, the week note.
- QuietIf the worst happens, the tree goes quiet. The calendar closes, Kim stops proposing, seat charges pause, and what the family wrote down governs what stays.
- ClosedDecember. The family keeps the record of the year. The roots receive their report. Nothing carries over without being chosen again.
Kim is software.
Kim starts every tree, keeps the calendar, writes the week note, and sends the invitations the connectors ask for. Kim is not a person and never pretends to be one. Kim does not give medical advice, does not count who has not helped, and does not set deadlines. People do the showing up. Kim does the organising.
Kim is made by Tribe Giving LLC, the company behind Tree of Hope and vive. The service Kim runs on is called Kindness in Motion. Kim is its voice.
Kim is software. Kim keeps the calendar and writes the week note. Kim is not a person, is not a nurse, and never gives medical advice. When a message is from Kim, it says Kim. When it is from a person, it says their name.
Plainly
What the family gets, and what nobody gets.
What the family gets
- PeopleA year of people who have said, in advance, that they will come.
- A private placeTo say what is needed this week, and to see who is coming.
- A calendarThat fills itself: meals, lifts, company, and paid local help when the circle cannot.
- Five seatsFor people they would want inside.
- A recordIn December, of what grew. They pay nothing for any of it.
What nobody gets
- MoneyNot the family, not the room, not the people inside.
- A listOf who has not helped.
- A leaderboardThere is none.
- A business insideA business name is never inside the tree.
- A family’s nameOn an outside page, ever.
Your next step
Someone you know is facing a hard year?
Start their tree. Kim prepares it, you share it into the groups that already know the family, and the five days begin when you say.