Over $30,000 Donated to Charity from Christmas Tree Sales

Strapping a Christmas tree to the top of your car might bring holiday cheer to more than those gathered around it in your living room this year, thanks to the numerous local charities that have benefited from Christmas tree sales in the area.

The longstanding Christmas tree charity sale at Bishop Janes United Methodist Church and a two-day charity sale at Country Mile Gardens in Morristown provided donations to local causes this year.

The sale at Bishop Janes has been going on longer than anyone can remember.

"We know [it has been around for] something greater than 50 years," church member Glenn Van Buskirk said. "Some of our longest term members know that they were selling trees in 1964, and some before then, but we don't know the exact starting date."

"Up until 1972, trees were sold on an honor system," Pastor David Dutcher said. "The group selling the trees would just put out a box and sign saying, 'Take a tree and put the money in the box.'" Since that time, customers have been asked to pay for the trees, although Van Buskirk said he has seen a lot of people generously write checks for more than the purchase price of the tree.

The sale nets roughly $30,000 annually and 100 percent of the proceeds are donated to charities outside the church, many of them local. The Tower Club – the men's group at Bishop Janes – organizes the sale, and volunteers from the church and community do all of the work.

"I've been a member of the church for about 30 years and I've been selling for all of that period of time," Van Buskirk said. "You get hooked on it. To me, Christmas isn't the same without doing this."

Van Buskirk also said that former Basking Ridge residents come from as far as Manhattan to buy their trees at Bishop Janes, year after year.

Mike Bellai, a customer at Bishop Janes on Monday, said that he remembers getting his tree at the church when he was a boy living in Bernardsville years ago. Bellai recently moved back to the area and came back to Bishop Janes with his daughter for their tree.

Tracy Davidson, a Basking Ridge resident and real estate associate with Keller Williams Town Square Realty, said she decided to get her tree this year at Bishop Janes because of the donations. "It's Christmastime," Davidson said. "They should be giving money to charity."

Another charity tree sale was held at Country Mile Gardens on Mount Kemble Avenue in Morristown on Dec. 5 and 6. Ten dollars for every tree sold were donated to the Kevin J. Hannaford Sr. Foundation of Basking Ridge. The sale resulted in $1800 in donations for the charity.

"The Hannaford foundation helps with the educational needs of children who have lost a parent," volunteer Jeff Ayers said. The foundation was started by Eileen Hannaford after losing her husband, Kevin, who worked in the World Trade Center in Manhattan and was killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

"Eileen was a customer of ours," Country Mile Gardens owner Dan Gallow said. "The fact that they are a local charity makes them easy to partner with."