‘Teamwork unparalleled’ as 1,800 trees arrive for New Canaan tree sale
NEW CANAAN — The cold rain did not dampen the spirits of volunteers who helped the Exchange Club unload 1,800 trees in less than two hours for the annual tree sale that started on Friday at Kiwanis Park at 77 Old Norwalk Road.
The Exchange Club, an organization that aids more than 20 charities across the state, was helped by volunteers to unload a record number of trees, up from the 1,400 trees last year. Those 1,400 trees eventually sold out last year.
This year, the club unloaded three total trucks, each with 600 trees with the help of Pivot Ministries, Shepherds Mentors and the SLOBS, the New Canaan High School Service League of Boys, said organizers
“The teamwork was unparalleled, everyone had a smile on their face, everybody was pumped up,” incoming Exchange Club President Jim Bakal said.
Several volunteers reaching up to unload the trees from the trucks are “pursuing a recovery program,” from Pivot Ministries, Keith Hudson, a local minister, explained.
The holidays are a time when the “country comes together, especially (during) this time of COVID,” and “we want to look for ways that we could bring our community back together,” Hudson said.
Pivot Ministries, which treats drug and alcohol addiction, helps during the event and is one of the many organizations aided by the Exchange Club. It treats addiction “as a spiritual problem and return the men to their families usefully whole,” according to the Pivot Ministry’s website.
The sale includes wreaths, trains, and trees from table size to up to 16 feet. Most of the trees are Fraser firs, with some Balsam firs. Parking Commissioner Keith Richey, who also volunteered during the event, said that the town was lucky to receive as many Fraser firs as it did, as it is a highly sought-after tree during the holidays for its branch strength to hold ornaments and decorations.
“We're very grateful we got trees to start with, because there was a shortage nationally,” outgoing President John Fulkerson said.
Bakal said the Exchange Club crossed its fingers for two months.
Now that they are onsite, trees will be sold Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on weekends from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Volunteer and Councilman Mike Mauro said that he “hopes people come out in droves and buy a lot of trees.”
Shepherds Mentors, who the Exchange Club aids, helps inner city teens with one-on-one mentoring so they can “move on to college,” said Tom Wynne, who is on the organization’s board.
SLOBS is a club for sons and parents to promote educational and charitable endeavors “that foster community responsibility and leadership, as well as strengthen the parent-son relationship,” the website says.
The money raised by the Exchange Club also helps ABC of New Canaan, Arts for Healing, Domestic Violence Crisis Center, Exchange Club Scholarship Fund, GetAbout, Kids in Crisis, Meals-on-Wheels of New Canaan, the Memorial Day Parade and the New Canaan Land Trust.
“We needed that after Thanksgiving,” Hudson joked of the physical activity, saying that it was nice to be “burning calories.”