GLASGOW — T.J. Samson Community Hospital’s Compliance Department is hosting a Festival of Trees as a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life.
The department is taking silent bids on the three trees, which are in the hospital’s south lobby near Subway. There is a 3 foot tree titled “Wishing You a Tropical Christmas” decorated with flamingo and beach motif ornaments, another 3 foot tree titled “Glitz Tree” decorated with hot pink ornaments and a 6 1/2 foot tree titled “Colors of the Night Sky” decorated with silver and blue ornaments.
“You can bid on them until Thursday, Dec. 10, at 3 o’clock,” said Melanie Watson, compliance officer. “If you come in and you see these three trees in the south lobby, then you can come to the desk because that’s where the bid sheets are and leave your bid.”
There is no minimum bid, but should someone decide they want to purchase the tree outright they may do so, she said.
Lisa Black, who works in the compliance department, came up with the idea for the fundraiser, along with Laura Hagan, who is a patient advocate at the hospital.
Black’s mother lives in Bloomington, Ill., which also hosts a Festival of Trees that has raised more than $400,000 for a residential treatment program for children with behavioral and emotional disorders.
“They’ve had it for several years. I’ve watched it grow,” she said. “It used to be small, like us. I think the first year they started out with 12 trees and now they’ve got over a hundred. They have all the way from the 3 foot trees to the 12- and 15-foot trees and they’ve had to move it to a convention center. It’s beautiful. I purchased a tree up there a few years ago and I thought it would be nice to get one started in this area.”
Hagan had seen a similar fundraiser at Temple Hill Elementary during its fall festival.
The department has a fundraising goal of $300, but that’s not all the hospital hopes to raise for Relay for Life.
“The hospital will have something like 17 teams for Relay and each set of people will be doing things from now on out until Relay and that will include everything from bake sales, raffles and different types of activities,” Watson said.
The department is hoping the event will become something that is done annually.
“As it grows, we will seek to find space to accommodate it,” she said. “If we need to find different space, we will try to do that. Someday, if it filled up Cave City Convention Center, I don’t know if that’s too grand, but you never know where this will lead.”
Other departments at the hospital are invited to join in and sponsor a tree, Watson said.
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Charitable trees available at T.J.
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