A group photo from the 1999 donation ceremony, where Ronald Sakolsky presents $5,000 for afforestation efforts, is preserved by Bai Fan. Photo: Courtesy of Luoyang No.2 Foreign Language School

　　"I had never seen so much money. He gave me that sum, and I bought so many good saplings with it... I have always thought of him. I wanted to tell him that I did it. I didn"t waste his money."

　　Yin Yuzhen, a national model for desert reclamation in China, fought to hold back tears during an interview with the Global Times on Tuesday.

　　For nearly three decades, Yin searched for the American, who gave her $5,000 in 1999 to plant trees in the Mu Us Desert in Ordos, North China"s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. On May 18, 2026, she finally found him.

　　Their reunion took place via video call, capping a swift under-48-hour search spurred by Yin"s public appeal on Chinese social media. As he chatted with Yin once more, former US exchange teacher Ronald Sakolsky from Pennsylvania learned his donation had blossomed into vast lush forests, and exclaimed it was truly amazing, Inner Mongolia Radio and Television Station (IMRTS) reported.

　　In 1999, Sakolsky made the donation to support Yin"s desert greening efforts. Back then, that amount of money could have bought Yin a 400-square-meter apartment or a lifetime of fine clothes. Today, that $5,000 has blossomed into more than 50,000 trees, transforming a stretch of northern China"s barren wilderness into a greenbelt that now shelters wildlife and holds back the encroaching dunes.

　　The story has captivated millions of netizens. Underneath a news report of their video call, one user commented on Xiaohongshu (RedNote): "Chinese people remember every debt of gratitude. You give me a drop of water, I return a sea. You plant a single tree, I give back a spring."