ABOUT THE COMMUNITY TREE PROGRAM
HISTORY:
The Community Tree Program started in 2003 with three trees placed in business lobbies and has now grown to over 12 trees in lobbies throughout the Downtown Seattle area.
MISSION:
The purpose of the Community Tree Program is to promote O’Christmas Trees and its fundraising activities, create a memorable holiday display in the lobbies of downtown business, and to promote established up and coming designers.
AUDIENCE:
Shoppers, tourists, downtown business clientele, patrons of businesses where trees are located.
TOUR OF TREES PASSPORT CONTEST - - WINNER ANNOUNCED
The Providence O'Christmas Trees - Tour of Trees Passport contest was recently held over the holidays in Seattle. Those wanting to enter were asked to locate 13 uniquely decorated sponsored Christmas Trees throughout downtown Seattle and get a passport stamped by the business that sponsored a tree. Those completed entries were collected and a winner was drawn at random.
And the Winner is............HILDE HIGGINS
Prize package includes two nights stay at the Vintage Park Hotel, dinner for two at El Gaucho restaurant, Champaign and chocolates, and town car service.
Press Release. January 25, 2008
Bellevue women and her family wins
Providence O'Christmas Trees'
Tour of Trees Contest
SEATTLE (Jan. 25, 2008) It took three trips to downtown Seattle and a group of four adults and two children for Hilde Higgins and her family to take the Providence O’Christmas Trees Tour of Trees and win a $1,000 prize package.
But it was worth it. Higgins spent the time with her son Kelly Higgins, his wife Jenny Kennelly, and their two children – 6-year-old Anna and 5-year-old Charlie - who flew in from near Boston to spend the Christmas holidays here.
Providence Senior and Community Services launched the first annual Tour of Trees this past holiday season as part of its O’ Christmas Trees fundraiser. Visitors and residents were encouraged to tour downtown Seattle to find the 13 elaborately decorated trees, which decorated hotels and retail establishments in the downtown Seattle core. Visitors stopped by each tree to have their “Passport” stamped so they could participate in the Tour of Trees Passport Contest. Passports were then entered into a drawing for a prize package that included two nights stay at Alexis Hotel in the Canlis Suite, dinner for two at El Gaucho restaurant, Champaign, chocolates and town car service.
Kelly Higgins, reporting from Harvard University, where he is an associate of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, said it took three days to find the 13 trees and 60 nutcrackers stationed downtown. All trips included Anna, Charlie, and him - with a different fourth team member each time. First it was his mother, then his sister-in-law Krista Fay, then his wife. “We found and photographed Anna and Charlie with 12 trees and all 60 nutcrackers.”
Both Kelly and his wife are from the Seattle area and visit from Andover, Mass., every Christmas. “Anna and Charlie were very excited to learn they were part of the winning team with their grandmother, whom they call `Oma,’” said the Interlake High School graduate.
Hilde said she was excited to find her booklet, which included the map of the trees, delivered with her newspaper. The whole family was eager to embark on the tour. “They found them all and they were very enthused. They were so beautiful, one more beautiful than the other,” she said of the trees. “Kelly had a fun time talking to people in the lobby of each destination.”
Hilde, 76, who was born in Germany and works for the Boeing Co., said Christmas is a special time for her family, which tries to incorporate both German and American traditions into their celebration. “The Tour of Trees will definitely be part of next year’s holiday tradition as well,” she said.
Funds raised through the sale of the trees to the retailers benefit Providence Senior and Community Services, serving those in need through healthcare, housing and hospice.
About ProvidenceO’Christmas Trees: This premier gala event is Providence Health & Services’ Senior and Community Services’ largest annual fundraiser. Funds raised benefit the poor, sick and vulnerable served through healthcare, housing and hospice. O'Christmas Trees in 2007 raised about $850,000 for the following programs: Providence ElderPlace, Heritage House at the Market, Providence Hospice of Seattle, Providence Home Services, Providence Marianwood, Providence Infusion and Pharmacy Services, Providence Housing, and Providence Mount St. Vincent. All are available to residents of King County and elsewhere in Western Washington. Visit www.providence.org/otrees to learn more.
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