Since 1992
Print and digital marketing
By Marie Sutherland
RANGELEY — Volunteers of the Giving Tree of Rangeley would like to express their heartfelt thanks to all the people in our organization, the volunteers, donors and members of the community who made 2016 a successful year.
We held a number of events during the year that helped give us visibility in the community and assisted in the fundraising efforts of the organization, including a float in the Forestry Museum Parade, the annual lobster roll sale at the Blueberry Festival, a luncheon for the Franklin County Retired Teachers, a coloring page at RLRS to find our Angel and Elf, the 29th lighting of the Giving Tree located in Town Park and the Saturday Senior Tea with Santa Claus at the Town House.
We made a change in 2016 in how we find the Angel and Elf for the Giving Tree lighting. We decided to move this activity to the Rangeley Lakes Regional School. A coloring page was sent home with the first- and second-grade students. They completed the page and entered them into a random drawing for the Angel and Elf. Two lucky students, Stella MacFawn and Sam Morrill, came to the lighting aboard the new Rangeley fire engine with Santa. It was a success and will be done again in 2017 to find our 30th anniversary Angel and Elf!
Another successful new effort this year was placing a tree with tags and donation boxes at the Franklin and Skowhegan Savings Banks. Generous members of the community took tags for specific items, shopped and in a timely manner and returned the items needed for the area families. We thank all of you who took the time and effort to help us with this shopping task.
This year, using donations and volunteers, we served our community by providing gift certificates to 30 seniors and warm clothing and/or boots to 17 families with 36 children living among us. Our hope is that our efforts help make the Christmas holiday a little happier for all those we served.
We look forward to 2017 and hope that members of the community from here and away will join us in celebrating our 30th anniversary this year. Thank you again for all your support to the Giving Tree, an all-volunteer and all-donation community-based organization.
