Neighbor News
Lexington's Follen Church Spreads Holiday Cheer
A church honors its founder, who brought the Christmas tree to America, by selling trees -- and donating them to local families in need.
In the 1830s, Charles Follen, an immigrant and Harvard’s first Professor of German, decorated a pine tree in his Cambridge living room. A popular writer visited and described this curious imported tradition, and her writings helped to spread the practice across the country.
Today, Lexington’s Follen Church celebrates its co-founder’s legacy by spreading holiday cheer in two ways – the church sells Christmas trees and also donates them to needy families in the area.
Last year, Follen Church donated 30 trees via special coupons given to the town’s social worker. This year, 50 coupons have been distributed via town officers and the Lexington Interfaith Clergy Association. Twenty more trees were distributed to needy Roxbury families via Boston’s Fair Foods project.
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If you’d like to help spread holiday cheer, send a donation marked “Christmas trees” to Follen Church, 755 Massachusetts Avenue, Lexington, MA 02420. The Follen Christmas trees sales lot is open Tuesday through Friday 3-7pm, Saturday 9-8, and Sunday 12-8, until Christmas Eve.