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11/20/2018 12:35 PMYou know how it is with Christmas trees: pick out the tree on the lot, tie it to the top of the wagon, try to remember how to put the stand together, and then figure out why the light string won’t flash.
Now there’s another way. Just buy a pack of chances and win an already decorated, one-of-a-kind Christmas tree in a raffle sponsored by the Essex Auxiliary of the Child & Family Agency of Southeastern Connecticut. There will be at least 36 trees, each decorated by an Essex merchant or members of the Essex Child & Family Auxiliary.
The trees will be on display in participating Essex stores starting on Friday, Nov. 23 and in the Festival of Trees Gallery, located in the shop that formerly housed Essex Olive Oil on Main Street across from the Post Office, starting on Monday, Dec. 3. Participating merchants and the Festival of Trees Gallery will sell raffle tickets and have maps showing where all the trees are located. The tickets are five for $20 or 15 for $40.
Buyers will vie to win by placing raffle tickets in canisters in front of the trees of their choice. The drawing for the winners will take place during the annual Essex Holiday Stroll on Saturday, Dec. 8 at 4 p.m. at the Tree Gallery. Ticket purchasers don’t have to be present at the drawing to win, but Beebe Miller, treasurer of the Essex Auxiliary, has some advice for those participating in the raffle.
“Be sure you write your name and your information on the ticket clearly,” she said.
Trees come in different sizes and colors: 4 ½-foot green trees, 5-foot silver trees, and 6-foot white trees.
There are different strategies for winning—you can distribute the tickets for various trees or plunk all of them in one canister. Theresa Sistare, co-chair of the event with Denise Cassella, favors using all her tickets on one tree. It worked for her two years ago, the first time the event, which alternates with the Essex Auxiliary’s house tour, was held. Theresa won a tree decorated with snowy branches, blue and white teacups and blue ornaments. This year’s trees include a one that will just keep on giving; it is decorated with gift certificates from local stores.
The trees provide satisfaction beyond décor. The funds raised support the work of the Child & Family Agency, which provides counseling and mental health services for both children and entire families, as well as programs on parent education, teen pregnancy, child guidance, and childcare. The agency operates largely in New London and Middlesex counties. One of the agency’s offices is located in Essex.
Miller, along with longtime volunteer Dick Campbell of Old Saybrook, is in charge of another of the Child & Families Agency holiday initiatives: Warm the Children, a program that raises funds and shops for children 17 and younger who need warm winter clothes. Local social service directors suggest potential recipients.
Warm the Children, now a national organization, originated with a Connecticut journalist who ran a donation campaign in the paper he edited after he repeatedly observed children shivering in inadequate winter outerwear as they waited for school buses. The campaign relies on local newspapers to place public service advertisements soliciting funds which are then turned over to a local non-profit organization to distribute. (The Valley Courier runs public service advertisements for Warm the Children.)
The Essex Auxiliary of the Child & Family Agency acts as the administering agent in this area with assistance from the organization’s headquarters in New London. Volunteer shoppers connect with the designated recipients at a local store to make the purchases.
“People love it. It is really wonderful to go shopping for this,” Miller said.
For children three and under, warm winter gear can total no more than $40; for youths up to the age of 17, the figure is $80. This area’s Warm the Children program last year helped 218 families with 463 children in nine communities: Essex, Deep River, Chester, Old Saybrook, Westbrook, Clinton, Killingworth, Lyme, and Old Lyme.
The Essex Auxiliary participates in an additional Child & Family Agency Christmas giving program, the Polar Express, named after a popular children’s holiday book. The Polar Express provides gifts for qualifying families involved with the agency’s services from a list the family provides.
“It can be clothes, toys, basic needs, household goods,” Miller said.
The local auxiliary sponsors five or six families and individual auxiliary members can also sponsor an additional family on their own. In Essex, Child & Family Auxiliary member Carol Tenney coordinates the program.
The Essex Auxiliary, which meets one evening a month except in the summer, welcomes new members who are interested in helping the work of the Child & Family Agency.
“It’s a wonderful way to meet people and work your way into the community,” said Essex Auxiliary President Pat Thompson.
“It’s all about community,” Sistare added.
Festival of Trees to benefit the Essex Auxiliary of the Child & Family Agency starts in participating Essex stores on Friday, Nov. 23, and in the Festival of Trees Gallery on Main Street opposite the Post Office on Monday, Dec. 3. Raffle tickets are 5 for $20; 15 for $40. The drawing is on Saturday, Dec. 8 at 4 p.m. at the Festival of Trees Gallery.
For information on joining the Essex Auxiliary of the Child & Family Agency, call Pat Thompson at 860-227-7551.
To contribute to Warm the Children, send a check made out to Warm the Children to Warm the Children, P.O. Box 603, Essex, CT 06426.