Last summer, 12-year-old Marc Zboch Jr. stood on top of a building in Haiti as mango trees waved in the tropical breeze behind him. Those tall trees were some of the few left in the city of Saint Louis du Nord, where he was helping his father, Marc Sr., build an orphanage.

The only reason the trees survived is the sweet fruit that hangs from their branches. The Zbochs found that out while spending two weeks working with the Northwest Haiti Christian Mission.

As his father videotaped him, the young boy explained what he was learning about construction practices in the country. Almost everything is made of homemade concrete, the boy explained, because only about 2 percent of the original forest remains in the country. Wood is an expensive import now.

It's one of the reasons the recent earthquake in Haiti has been so devastating.

"You get this brittle cinder block, you have to be careful how you pick it up, it can just crumble in your hands," Mr. Zboch said. "We were looking at homes where the roofs were caving in before the earthquake. I can't imagine what happened once the ground started bumping up and down."

He is operations manager for Fast Growing Trees (www.fast-growing-trees.com), an online tree supplier based in Charlotte, N.C. The company was in the process of creating a tree nursery in a remote part of Haiti when the earthquake hit. Work on the project continues.

Curtis Rogers, 25, of Nashville is working in La Baie des Moustiques, Haiti, for the mission as community development coordinator near the proposed nursery. That part of the country wasn't damaged by the earthquake, but goods from Port-au-Prince are harder to come by and getting expensive.

Mr. Rogers has seen the problems the country has suffered because of the lack of trees. Erosion has contaminated drinking water, affecting agriculture and fishing. Landslides and hurricanes are even more devastating without trees. The partnership with Fast Growing Trees has helped, he said.

"They not only offer their expertise but also a reliable source for certain trees that we cannot get easily here in Haiti," he said.

Fast Growing Trees, which was formed in 2003, has six shipping and growing sites and ships plants throughout the country. One of the largest online tree nurseries in the country, it draws both compliments and complaints about the size and growth rate of its plants and customer service.

"We have a large number of customers, and the overwhelming majority are very pleased," Mr. Zboch said. "When you're dealing with a tree there are a lot of factors beyond the customers' and our control. What we do is offer a guarantee: If someone's tree doesn't make it we replace it."

To help raise money for Haiti and quake victims, Fast Growing Trees is donating proceeds from the sales of certain types of trees to the Northwest Haiti Christian Mission. The company also allows customers to donate directly to the mission and the reforestation program. The company will send a free Empress tree to anyone who donates $25 or more.

Over the past three yeas, Fast Growing Trees has helped impoverished countries reforest their landscapes. For every tree or plant sold in the U.S., one is planted in third-world countries, Mr. Zboch said, adding that the company has sent more than 350,000 trees to Africa.

The 47-year-old Daytona, Fla., native says the Moringa tree may be the future of Haiti. The pods and leaves of this fast-growing, drought-resistant tree are rich with protein and nutrients. Most Haitians' diets are low on protein, making them prone to infections and wounds slow to heal. There are other fruit trees and lumber-producing trees that he's also hoping to plant.

From the air, it's easy to see the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. One side is a deep green canopy of trees; the other shows sparse growth. The forests of Haiti declined for many reasons. Former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier harvested extensively and exported the lumber for profit. Trees also have been cut down for fuel and other uses.

"It's been poor management, poor rulers and poor people," Mr. Zboch said.

On his visit, he was captivated by the resilient residents of Haiti.

"The people are amazingly friendly, and they are a very happy people. ... In the United States we have everything, yet we're not content. Here are people that have nothing that are just very happy people."

In the video from their trip, the father and son can be seen mixing concrete and spending time with barefoot children playing on gravel streets. As part of their mission work, they passed out 1,500 pairs of shoes and distributed rice and beans.

"I definitely got more out of it than I could give," Mr. Zboch said.

To learn more about Fast Growing Trees or to donate, go to www.fast-growing-trees.com/Haiti.htm or call 1-888-504-2001. To donate directly to the Northwest Haiti Christian Mission, go to www.nwhcm.org or call 1-502-695-7870.

on the web

To see a YouTube video shot by Mr. Zboch in Haiti go to www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYXtDuJMaDM .

Doug Oster writes a blog, "Growing With Doug," exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.