{"id":15877,"date":"2020-05-14T16:58:12","date_gmt":"2020-05-14T23:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/?p=30000010664"},"modified":"2020-05-14T16:58:41","modified_gmt":"2020-05-14T23:58:41","slug":"video-giving-tree-is-a-neighborhood-gift-to-restless-kids-harried-parents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/video-giving-tree-is-a-neighborhood-gift-to-restless-kids-harried-parents","title":{"rendered":"VIDEO: Giving Tree is a neighborhood gift to restless kids, harried parents"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Giving Tree is a neighborhood gift to restless kids, harried parents\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/fGxAU35DiS4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>It was near the end of March when Long Beach locals Ron Rulison and Robert McNeel, feeling a bit stuck and suspecting their neighbors, especially kids, felt the same way, decided to create a giving tree.<\/p>\n<p>They had gotten an idea from a friend\u2014no, the friend was not Shel Silverstein\u2014about creating a destination where children could pick a small gift hanging from a branch to take home. It seemed a splendid concept, so they posted it to neighborhood social network, Nextdoor and, in the month and a half since, McNeel and Rulison have seen their project blossom.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;At first we were hanging about 10 items on the tree,&#8221; McNeel said. &#8220;Now, I think we&#8217;re at 50.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_10000019817\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-10000019817\" style=\"width: 1110px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-10000019817\" src=\"https:\/\/img.lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/14003946\/robandron-1110x740.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1110\" height=\"740\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-10000019817\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Robert McNeel and Ron Rulison stand in front of their &#8220;giving tree&#8221; with their pet turtle. Photo by Cheantay Jensen.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Initially limiting notice to the surrounding neighborhood, word soon spread and they found visitors coming from as far as Cerritos on a night basis. (McNeel said the Cerritos residents drive over every night, park and have their kids bike the rest of the way to the tree.)<\/p>\n<p>McNeel and Rulison say they aren&#8217;t surprised the tree has been a hit. The pair knew that offering the neighborhood kids an outdoor activity to look forward to was just what kids, and parents, needed to mix up the monotony of their days.<\/p>\n<p>What the couple wasn&#8217;t expecting was how the giving came full circle. Neighborhood kids started bringing their own toys to the tree and many families have donated items and snacks\u2014a brother and sister donated $8 of their hard-earned &#8220;cleaning money.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Parents have expressed how grateful they are to Rulison and McNeel for the &#8220;giving tree,&#8221; but it&#8217;s more than just a new toy or a treat for the kids; many parents are now using the tree as a reward that motivates their kids to finish their homework or get dressed that day.<\/p>\n<p>And the parents, the couple said, enjoy it too\u2014maybe, even, a little more. While the children scour the tree for their next take-home treasure, parents chat with the couple and sip on homemade margaritas, courtesy Rulison and McNeel. The activity, the couple admits, has made the neighborhood a lot closer.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I didn&#8217;t know Rob and Ron before,&#8221; neighbor Lauren Wessels said, &#8220;So, now we stop and talk and have margaritas. It&#8217;s fun.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s so fun to watch the kids come.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":262,"featured_media":71038,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[22528],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[8767],"class_list":["post-15877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hi-lo","tag-neighborhoods","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15877"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15877\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15877"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=15877"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=15877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}