Christmas was in the air Friday night at Jeremiah’s Promise’s annual Festival of Trees The historic Pierce County train depot was decked in holiday decor and festive live music, courtesy of local violinists, Crystal Murphy, Kayla Sergent and Audrey Finn, could be heard.
Glittering Christmas trees lined the back of the depot, decorated top to bottom by community businesses, T3 Composites, Tiner Farms, Smith Farm, The Red Barn, The Cottage Home, Lighthouse Automotives and the Arnold family.
Bidding for each tree started at $250. The night ended with victories by Susan Taylor, who went home with T3 Composites’s “Winter Woodland” tree, Theresa Jaskson, who bid the highest on Tiner Farms’s “Blueberry Tree” and Virginia Williams, who won Cottage Home’s tree with the highest bid of the night overall. Due to Cottage Home’s success, the home goods store claimed Jeremiah’s Promise’s “Illuminating Hope” award for the second year in a row.
Attendees also participated in a 50/50 raffle, which earned $525 over the course of the evening. Pierce County Chamber Executive Director Christi Pitts won the raffle and chose to donate her share back to Jeremiah’s Promise.
While guests socialized, Blackshear artist Addie Johnson painted a snowy church scene for auction. The winner of the painting was April Mitchell.
A Hope Tree was posted at the entrance to the venue, hung with Christmas ornaments containing the neurodevelopmental center’s needs. Guests could choose a need to fulfill and keep the ornament.
Through the Christmas tree auction, painting auction and 50/50 raffle, a total of $1,500 was raised in support of Jeremiah’s Promise.
“Thank you to everyone who has come here tonight for a great cause,” says Jeremiah’s Promise Executive Director Vanessa Smith, “it’s my pleasure to be able to be here and to auction off all these beautiful trees that were donated by businesses in our community. I’m just so appreciative to them.”
The second annual Festival of Trees was sponsored by Blackshear businesses Ace Hardware, Highway 84 Storage, The Speech Clinic, Pierce County Graphics, Hodges Plumbing and Five Points Lawn Center.
