Raise a little love with Trees of Hope for the Ronald McDonald House
Trees! Trees! Everywhere! Give Back Girl, Arlene here to bring you on a tree-lit journey. This year was the 35th annual Trees of Hope event at the Maritime Center in New Haven. The fundraiser benefits the Ronald McDonald House where families with sick children are able to stay so that they are close to the hospital and their children. If you have never attended this event before, you are definitely missing out on one of the season's best! But first, some exciting news! We have a new official Give aback Girl with this being her second volunteer event with us!
Colleen is a colleague of GBG, Michelle. She expressed interest in volunteer work and joined us for Lights of Love at Hospice and Trees of Hope for The Ronald McDonald House. We look forward to many more fun events with our newest GBG, Colleen. Congratulations!
Give Back Girls (GBGs) Sue, Arlene, Michelle, Angie, and Colleen volunteered one afternoon. Michelle and Colleen welcomed guests and explained how the raffle ticket process worked. The guests received a list of trees and gift baskets and a pencil. Michelle and Colleen explained that the tickets would be $1 per ticket and when the found a tree or gift basket they would like to buy tickets for, they simply write in the number of tickets on the list.
Surprise appearance! Little Macky! I could not resist him in his all time favorite sweater. The antlers he tolerated for a Kodak moment were cute too. Back to the event….Adults, and children wandered the halls gazing at the variety of trees loaded with generous gifts and gift cards. Many trees were themed with decorations and gifts supporting the theme. Some examples were automotive, outdoor party, Barbie, Crayola, and Disney. Other trees were donated in honor of a loved one and decorated with their favorite hobby or passion. 170 trees in all!!
While the guests were given the opportunity to check out online, many still appreciated being able to check out the traditional way with a "cashier". That is where Sue, Angie, and I came in. We were given a lap-top or I-Pad to purchase the tickets for guests and then allocate them to the trees they chose. A quick lesson on navigating the application and we were ready to go.
It was so fun to hear the traditions that families have developed around this event. One grandmother brings her grandchildren every year and they received $10 in tickets earch to "bid" on trees. Another mother and father did the same thing with their children every year. A favorite story shared with me was the couple that comes to the event every year and increases the number of tickets to match the number of years they are married! I have a feeling that this will be a tradition for a few Give Back Girls too! We really enjoyed the joy and festive energy in those halls. We will be back!
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