Annual Christmas tree sale success continues

January 6, 2021  |  By Skip Flanders

To the Community: 

A big thank you and gracious appreciation to all who participated by helping unload, cut strings, purchase a tree, or just made an extra donation to the Community Christmas Tree project in support of the Waterbury and Duxbury food shelves and the Waterbury Area Good Neighbor Fund. 

This year with the Christmas tree shortage we sold 400 trees, 200 fewer than last year, and raised $9,500. A special thanks to the Proteau family who completely refurbished the 30-year-old “Support the Food Shelf” sign before the trees arrived. This is the original sign created in 1991. Also a thank you to Waterbury True Value that annually donates the use of staging to store the trees until they are unwrapped and set out.

Year after year people come from many surrounding towns to purchase a tree and there are many out-of-state checks from visitors. The most frequent comment made by people purchasing a tree is “I don’t mind paying for a tree as long as it supports the food shelf.” Where else but Vermont could you sell 400 to 600 trees and collect thousands of dollars year after year in the front door of a church all on the honor system?  It is a great credit to our community spirit.

A special prayer for Robin and Ed Lemery who in 1991 initiated the Christmas Tree Project that has helped so many people in need over the last 30 years. Ed said he recalls the pastor at the church in 1991 saying he did not think the idea would work because there were too many people selling Christmas trees.  Twenty-nine years later we sold 600 trees. 

We wish everyone a safe end to 2020 and start to the new year. We hope to be back to normal with the annual Christmas Tree Project this year and look forward to seeing everyone then. On behalf of Wesley United Methodist Church, thank you to each and every one of you.

Skip Flanders

Waterbury