Christmas Trees bring joy and hope to households all over the world during this time of year. We use them to celebrate the season, as a centerpiece for our holiday gatherings, and as a shelter under which we (and Santa!) place gifts. Our Christmas Trees become part of our families during the holiday season, but are unfortunately discarded usually sometime every January. What if our Christmas Trees could do more?
Christmas Trees with a Heart can do more.
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For more than 30 years, the Dexter Lions Club’s annual “Christmas Trees with a Heart” sale has helped raise tens of thousands of dollars for local philanthropic causes, and this holiday season will be no different. More than 1,000 trees of ten different species have traveled 120 miles from a Michigan farm in Stanton to the north parking lot, known this time of year as the “Christmas Tree Lot,” of Dexter’s Creekside Intermediate School.
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“Each year, we spend thousands of dollars and countless hours getting ready to offer the best Michigan Christmas Trees around to our surrounding communities. And each year, we have been fortunate enough to sell our entire inventory, down to the last tree,” said Lion Chuck Hughes, President of the Dexter Lions Club. “We have visitors come from all over the state to choose a Christmas Tree because they know the trees will not only be beautiful and of the highest quality, but the proceeds collected from the sale benefit some very worthy causes in our community.”
Over the years, the Lions Club has had customers purchase and drive their trees home to Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.
The Dexter Lions Club supports dozens of local philanthropic causes, and money raised from the Christmas Tree sale goes to organizations and programs such as Leader Dogs for the Blind, Relay for Life, Dexter Food Bank, Washtenaw Library for the Blind & Physically Disabled, Student College Scholarships, and Bear Lake Camp. In addition, the Lions are extremely active in the Project Kidsight, which provides free vision screening for children from ages six months to five years. The Lions Recycle for Sight program also helps those in need of eyesight care who are less fortunate by collecting eye glasses that are no longer used and redistributing them to those who need them. Eye glasses may be dropped off at the Dexter Family Eye Center, Main Street Optometry, and Dexter Family Medicine.
The Dexter Lions Club’s ‘Christmas Tree with a Heart’ sale opens Friday, Nov. 29 at 9 a.m. (the day after Thanksgiving). Regular sale hours are 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekends and noon until 8 p.m. on weekdays. The sale will remain open until all Christmas Trees are sold. The Christmas Tree Lot is located at Creekside Intermediate School, 2615 Baker Rd., Dexter.
The Dexter Lions Club also helps the Dexter community celebrate the holidays by sponsoring, building, and maintaining the ice skating rink in Monument Park, providing decorations, and helping to put out the luminaria displays in the public areas of the village on Christmas Eve.
Preparing for the yearly sale is a year-round venture. Members of the Lions Club drive to Stanton yearly every July to preview the trees that will be sold in November and December. Plans are made throughout the year regarding which species of trees will be offered by the Club, for what price the trees will sell, and when the trees will be delivered to the Christmas Tree Lot. Beginning in September, the Christmas Tree Sale Chairperson, Lion Bob Steptoe, begins to rally other Lions to volunteer to help prepare the Christmas Tree Lot for opening and to sign up for shifts at the Lot once it opens. This year, 45 Lions will be ready to greet eager Christmas Tree buyers beginning the day after Thanksgiving.
The Lions will be offering ten different species of trees: Balsam Fir, Douglas Fir, Fraser Fir, Scotch Pine, Serbian Spruce, Blue Spruce, Concolor Fir, White Pine, Black Hills Spruce, and Corkbark Fir. While the Scotch Pine tree is the most common Christmas Tree in the U.S. because of its excellent needle retention, the Fraser Fir is a best-seller for the Lions. The Fraser has branches that turn slightly upward, a pleasant scent, good form, and high needle-retention. The Concolor Fir is a more unique choice, as it has longer needles that curl up slightly. However, it lends itself to being an excellent Christmas Tree since the high-strength needles can bear more hearty ornaments.
For those who usually opt for artificial Christmas Trees during the holiday season, the Dexter Lions Club wants to emphasize that real Christmas Trees can be not only beautiful and fragrant – something that cannot be achieved with artificial trees – but also easy to maintain. Lion Bob Steptoe recommends trimming one-fourth of an inch from the bottom of the tree trunk before placing it on a tree stand. Additionally, his “secret” tip includes filling the tree stand with hot water for the first watering and continuing to water (room temperature) every day after. Letting the tree stand go dry, he says, is the reason for a tree to dry out and lose its needles prematurely.
“Maintaining a beautiful Christmas Tree is not as hard as some people think,” said Steptoe. “Taking time to water the tree every day can help ensure the tree will last well into January, if desired. Besides, there’s really nothing like the smell of a fresh-cut Christmas Tree in your living room to welcome family and friends for holiday celebrations.”
Steptoe’s wife even suggests a use for your tree after the holidays have passed.
“After the holidays, we take our Christmas Tree outside and lean it against our backyard deck, under some bird feeders,” said Margaret Govaere-Steptoe. “It provides protection and shelter for birds on those days when the winter wind is bitterly blowing.”
For customers’ convenience, all trees sold by the Lions are pre-drilled with holes in the bottom of the trunks, and tree stands, roping, and wreaths will also be available for purchase. The Lions will accept cash and checks for the Christmas Trees, which range in price from $25 to $110.