Upstate and down this month, the Delaware Hospice's Festival of Trees celebrates the holidays while hosting its biggest fundraiser of the year.
In New Castle County, wreaths and trees of all sizes line the atrium of Cokesbury Village, decorated in traditional, whimsical and wow-ser ways.
A group of Red Hats decorated their four-foot tree on the main floor with the club's traditional red and purple. Downstairs, though, Paul Van Liew of Pagave, a salon in Independence Mall on U.S. 202, used metallic green, gold and a crown of peacock feathers and gold balls for his always-popular tree.
At the Delaware Agricultural Museum and Village in Dover, the display was already packed by Friday morning.
"Good luck trying to find someone in there," said the woman who answered the phone at the Delaware Agricultural Museum and Village.
The Sussex County event won't take place until Nov. 30-Dec. 2 at Delaware Technical and Community College in Georgetown.
"It's not just a fundraiser; it's a friendraiser," said Joyce Bensinger, Delaware Hospice's assistant director of development.
The festival raises more than than $240,000 statewide, with thousands of people coming through its three sites and multiple events, which include variety shows, auctions and lunches with Santa.
This year, the festival launched a new program, a senior citizen tree-decorating contest. Senior centers are invited to decorate a three-foot tree. All of them are put on display and people can vote with pennies for their favorite. At the end of the festival, a winner is declared, and the trees go back to the centers that decorated them.
"So it's a reminder of their connection to Delaware Hospice, and it's a good way for us to partner with the community about the festival," she said.
Delaware Hospice is a nonprofit hospice. While it accepts payments from Medicare and private insurance, it does not bill patients who don't have insurance and cannot afford to pay.
The Festival of Trees was started 21 years ago when the board was looking for a major fundraiser and noticed that lots of other medical-related charities and groups relied on similar events.
Cokesbury Village is the site of Delaware Hospice's Festival of Trees in New Castle County.
About Delaware Hospice
Since 1982, Delaware Hospice has provided exceptional care and support to 26,000 patients and their families. Its mission is to help each patient, each day, live the fullest, most comfortable life possible. Delaware Hospice is the largest and only licensed, nonprofit, community-based hospice serving New Castle, Kent and Sussex counties in Delaware and southern Chester and Delaware counties in Pennsylvania. For more information about Delaware Hospice’s programs and services, upcoming events, or employment opportunities, call 800-838-9800
Delaware
Hospice is accredited by JCAHO.
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