GREENFIELD — A new Warm the Children fundraiser aims to raise money while creating festive Christmas trees. The first-ever Festival of Trees, hosted at Yankee Candle and organized by the Franklin County Rotary Club and the Kiwanis Club, is looking for tree sponsors.
The trees will be on display for three weeks in December, and the public can come view the trees for $10 for each adult ticket. Each ticket is also good toward 20 raffle tickets for one of the trees, which will be auctioned off before the end of December.
Tree sponsors will be in charge of purchasing and decorating their trees and delivering them to Yankee Candle before Dec. 2. The Rotary Club is hosting a gala for the tree sponsors that Friday to kick off the event. The gala is open to all tree sponsors and will have live entertainment and refreshments. The area can accommodate around 150 trees, and any business, organization or group of friends can decorate a tree. Trees have to be artificial, but not all trees have to be full size, since organizers are looking for variety in the trees.
Julie Kosuda from the Rotary Club said there will also be live entertainment throughout the weekends when the public can come view the trees. The viewing weekends will be Dec. 3 and 4, 10 and 11, and 17 and 18. The public can come view them from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
She said the groups got the idea when they were looking to expand the charity events the Rotary club does. They heard of a similar event in Springfield and used it as inspiration to plan their own.
She said selecting Warm the Children was an easy decision, because it’s a local charity that helps those in need in Franklin County.
Festival of the Trees is the newest event in the area to go toward Warm the Children and organizers hope it will help the cause, but donations for the charity haven’t wavered this year.
According to Kelsey Klerowski of The Recorder, Warm the Children has brought in just under $50,000 in donations so far this year. She said the goal to continue helping the same amount of children next year is $85,000, so the charity still needs to collect about $35,000 by Dec. 31.
At this time last year, Warm the Children had received about $34,000 in donations, so Klerowski said the donations are on schedule.
Those interested in sponsoring trees can contact April Healey at 413-695-3207 or ahealey@bankgcb.com.
Warm the Children is an effort by the The Recorder, Wilson’s Department Store and Community Action to provide local children in need with new winter clothing,
The Recorder will carry weekly stories about the progress of this year’s drive and the people helping and helped over the next several weeks. If you have stories to tell about Warm the Children or are planning fundraisers, let us know so we can help promote them by contacting Miranda Davis at 413-772-0261, ext. 280 or mdavis@recorder.com.
To donate to Warm the Children, send a check to: Warm the Children, c/o The Recorder, P.O. Box 1367, Greenfield, MA 01302. New clothing may also be dropped off at The Recorder, at 14 Hope St., any time during the year.