Twenty-six years ago, while in China on a teaching exchange program, Ronald Sakolsky raised 5,000 US dollars to support Yin Yuzhen's tree-planting efforts in a desert. With the funds, Yin and her family, in northern China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region, went on to cultivate a forest of more than 50,000 trees.

The two reunited this August in China and their story has since touched millions across the country. At the end of the trip, Sakolsky said he hoped their story would inspire more people.