Festival of trees
Annual celebration kicks off today
By Larry Meyer
Argus Observer
Wednesday, November 26, 2008 11:11 AM PST
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| Sarah Bradbury, a volunteer at Festival of Trees, adjusts decorations on one of the trees that are for sale during the event which started today at the Holiday Inn in Ontario. |
ONTARIO — A longtime charity drive in the lower Treasure Valley is gearing up to raise money to furnish nutritious meals to elderly and disabled people who are homebound and unable to care for themselves.
The Festival of Trees program, which raises funds for the Malheur County Meals on Wheels program and Help Them to Hope — another local holiday charity drive — through the sale of decorated Christmas trees, centerpieces, wreaths and other holiday items, will be going strong at the Holiday Inn, in the main banquet/conference room, today through Sunday.
The event will be open 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday. The event is closed Thursday.
Fresh cinnamon rolls will be available for purchase through the festival. Admission is $1 for adults and 50 cents for children, 10 and younger.
“This is our 19th year,” Debbie Blackaby, co-chair of Festival of Trees said. “This is my seventh year (as co-chair).”
People or businesses may decorate the tree they sponsor or have the tree they sponsor decorated by the committee. Normally, there are about 40 or more trees, but this year, because of the sour economy, there will only be 32 trees, Blackaby said. Sarah Bradbury, a Festival of Trees volunteer, said trees will generally cost $150 to $400.
“Last year we raised $15,000 for Meals on Wheels and $5,000 for Help Them to Hope,” Blackaby said, and some funds were held back to pay for expenses.
“We have stayed about the same for the last five years,” she said. Meals on Wheels is available in Ontario, Nyssa and Vale, and meals are cooked at the congregate meal sites in each of those communities and delivered to the recipients by volunteers. The Malheur County programs are provided through the auspices of the Malheur Council on Aging and Community Services. Other members of the committee include Barb Olson, co-chair, Reta Lewis, treasurer, Amber Campbell, Lark McKenzie, Fran McLean, Diane Lopez along with Argus Observer employee Jo Ogburn and Argus Observer Advertising Director John Dillon. Although the Festival of Trees has been held for nearly 20 years, Bradbury said there are a lot people who haven’t heard about it and hopes the word will get out.
