Vote now and help a kid: The trees are counting on you

"The trees of the world are counting on you."

Boy, when you hear something like that, it's hard to say no. Last year, I wrote about the winner of an Arbor Day Foundation contest for WalletPop. I made some connection between trees and personal finance; about how trees can stimulate economic development in a city (think of how popular Central Park is) and how if you plant a tree on the west side of your home, your energy costs can go down 3%.

Well, with Arbor Day coming up April 24, I thought I'd bring back the trees. )

From now until Friday at 3 p.m., CT, you can vote right here at the Arbor Day Foundation National Poster Contest on the images of 47 posters designed by fifth graders around the country. That winner will then go into a final round of judging. The lucky winning fifth grader will get to go on an all expense-paid trip to Nebraska City, Nebraska, which was the first city to ever have Arbor Day in 1872, and he or she will get a $1,000 savings bond and receive a lifetime membership in the foundation.

Since you get 10 free trees upon joining the Arbor Day Foundation, that sounds like 10 free trees for the rest of this child's life.

And there's another personal finance angle: While voting may do very little for your own wallet, it could do wonders for some fifth grader's.