My name is Nicole Mychasiuk.

I'm a professional arborist, a single mom, and the founder of the Okanagan Evergreen Collective.

Every December, 25 to 30 million trees are cut down, decorated for thirty days, and thrown away. I spent nearly twenty years working with trees professionally — and I knew there had to be a better way.

So I invented one.

The EverPod™ is a patent-pending root health and display system that keeps a real, living Christmas tree alive, healthy, and reusable — season after season. It was drawn by hand in a notebook by someone who has spent a career understanding exactly what trees need to survive.

The patent is filed in Canada and the United States. The first full-size EverPod™ ever built is in production right now in Kelowna.

This is not an idea. It is a product being built in real time.

This November, the Okanagan Evergreen Collective will deliver 15 live EverPod™ trees to Kelowna schools. My son attends North Glenmore Elementary — our targeted pilot school. The idea that his school could be the first in the world to have a living, reusable Christmas tree is everything this mission is about.

Local companies sponsor a tree. The school receives it at no cost. After the holidays, the tree is retrieved, boarded at a nursery, and returns the following season. The EverPod™ is reused. The sponsor renews. One tree. One community. Year after year.

I built this alone — while raising my son, while working, before asking anyone for anything. I filed the patents. I found the manufacturer. I built the plan.

I am a Kelowna Women In Business member, a Dress for Success Kelowna ambassador and volunteer, a Pink Skirt Project attendee, and I was featured at the Watch Her Soar Gala in 2025 as a story of resilience. I will be back in that room this October — this time as a founder with a pilot season underway.

Every dollar raised goes directly toward launching this first season — prototype production, patent fees, incorporation, website, and working capital.

My son is going to watch his school's tree come back next year. And the year after that. He is the reason this exists — and the reason I will not stop.

If you'd like to see the EverPod™ come to your city, reach out. I read every message personally.

Thank you for being part of this.

— Nicole Mychasiuk, Founder

The Evergreen Collective / Okanagan Evergreen Collective