A VARIETY of fruit and vegetable seedlings will again be given out for free at the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ compound in Diliman, Quezon City on May 6 from 9 am to 12 noon. The project is dubbed the Community PanTREE, an initiative of the department’s National Capital Region office launched on April 22 to celebrate Earth Day. It was inspired by the community pantries, a give-and-take food bank concept, that have recently sprouted across the country. The PanTREE aims to promote urban gardening, food security, and mutual cooperation within the community. “Its objective is to provide seedlings of fruit-bearing trees and vegetables to Metro Manila residents and to inspire them to set up their own backyard or vertical planting area,” the DENR NCR Information Office said in a mobile message on Tuesday. “Each recipient is allowed to bring home a maximum of five fruit-bearing tree seedlings and 10 vegetable seedlings (courtesy of the Bureau of Plant Industry), subject to available stocks,” it said in a Facebook post. Recipients are encouraged to bring their own pots for the seedlings. — Angelica Y. Yang