With the start of the holiday season, the Eugene community offers many opportunities to help the disadvantaged, including the Valley River Center’s annual Giving Tree.
“Girl, age six: underwear and art supplies.” “Girl, age 2: my first purse” are just some of the tags that decorate the tree, just across the street from the Valley River Inn. The event, which runs until Dec. 16, provides an opportunity for community members to help make a difference in the lives of families in need this holiday season by selecting an ornament from the tree.
Each ornament includes a person’s age, gender and holiday wish list. The Eugene Active 20-30 Club – founded in 1927, and, according to its Web site, focuses on “serviceable citizenship in the community of Oregon’s Lane County, while improving the quality of life for special needs children” – is in charge of collecting and distributing the gifts to local charities.
One community member, who recently moved to Eugene, was already visiting the tree for a second time this season. “It’s hard just to pick one of them; I mean, geez, I can afford lip gloss,” she said. “People seem to feel more drawn to help the younger kids; as the tags on the tree dwindle, the older kids are left. I think it might be because it’s easier to buy for the little ones.”
The Valley River Inn’s annual Festival of Trees event, which ran for several days in mid-November, also provided the community with a way to make a difference in the lives of others.
After being greeted by a “storybook mime” with a striped dress, rosy cheeks and a white cane, community members were led into a world of roughly 60 sparkling holiday trees lining the stocking- and candy cane-covered walls of the hotel. Indeed, one could find any and every sort of tree imaginable: umbrella trees, opera mask trees, peacock trees – even an Oregon State Beavers tree.
But the trees haven’t arrive just to dazzle the crowd – they’re for sale. Ranging from $1,000 to $5,000, each tree, with its own theme and sponsor, is auctioned as a holiday package, many of which include vacation flights and hotel stays.
But, who would pay $5,000 for a Christmas tree? Well, the sale is more about giving than receiving.
As one of Eugene’s biggest fundraising events, the real reason behind the trees is to fund a new hospice house, a community service that Lane County currently does not have.
While a crowd of about 18,000 was estimated to attend the event, the Festival of Trees was not able to reach its goal this year. Though it will take years to reach the program’s ultimate goal of $2 million, more than 900 volunteers work to coordinate the event and deliver the trees each year.
Along with the decorations, there was also entertainment, including the Eugene Youth Ballet’s performance of “The Nutcracker,” and shopping opportunities, for wreaths, gingerbread houses and crafts.
“People love it; it’s kind of a kick off to the holiday season,” said the program’s Executive Director Margie Brooks.