Fairhaven Family and Friends Continue Tradition to Help Fight ALS this Holiday Season

Dick and Vivian Douglass of Fairhaven, together with their family and friends, will continue their unique approach to fighting a family member’s diagnosis of ALS, a fatal neurodegenerative disease, commonly known as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease.”

On Saturday and Sunday, December 5th and 6th from 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m., the Douglass’s will be selling Christmas Trees from their farm located on Sconticut Neck Road in Fairhaven, MA. All trees – priced at $40 each – are donated by the Douglass’s so that all proceeds from trees purchased will support the ALS Therapy Development Institute, a nonprofit biotech in Cambridge, MA focused 100 percent on ALS research. This is the Douglass’s 15th year donating trees for ALS research, raising over $250,000 to date for the cause.

This year in addition to the traditional Christmas tree, the Douglass’s are offering live white spruce table trees for $30 each that can serve as the foundation of a holiday decoration for the home, office, or child’s bedroom and then be planted for future growth. These are between 2-3 feet tall and will be wrapped in burlap. This offering is prompted in part by the large number of children that request a tree of their own, as well as the young families that desire a live tree and by those with limited space.

The annual Christmas tree sale has become quite a tradition for families near and far and involves local support from the community. Some buy trees yearly, while others donate their time to volunteer with the Douglass’s – including the Old Rochester/Fairhaven boys hockey team, who will help to cut trees and help secure them to cars on Sunday, December 6. All volunteers generously donate their time to help the Douglass’s raise funds for ALS research.

The ALS Therapy Development Institute and its scientists actively discover and develop treatments for ALS. The Institute is the world’s first and largest nonprofit biotech focused 100 percent on ALS research. Led by ALS patients and their families, the charity understands the urgent need to slow and stop this horrible disease. Based in Cambridge, MA, the Institute has served as one of the leaders in sharing data and information with academic and ALS research organizations, patients and their families.

Come and join the Douglass family in this important effort as they raise funds to find a cure for ALS!