#RichlandGives Spotlight: American Red Cross
American Red Cross of Lake Erie Heartland is hosting this year’s Festival of Trees, a holiday-themed fundraising effort which serves the emergency and disaster relief of Richland, Ashland, Huron, Lorain, Wayne Counties.
Interested tree designers or interior decorators, artists, and interested parties who would like to DESIGN an artificial tree or holiday item, may contact Red Cross board member in Richland County, Luke Beekman, at LucasMBeekman@gmail.com. All large Holiday Items and Designer Artificial trees must be received no later than Saturday, November 11th. Designers also attend this special VIP reveal in Wooster, and is a great way to connect across all the counties we serve humanitarian & emergency relief.
Hosted at American Red Cross Wooster Chapter House on Friday, November 17th, we will open the doors at 5:00 p.m. to host a “VIP Reveal” party of the designer trees, wreaths, and auction items. The “VIP REVEAL” is an opportunity for our sponsors, designers and past honorary chairs to celebrate the cause. During this VIP event, we will be launching our online auction of trees, wreaths and other holiday items and will have volunteers available to help individuals get registered. For those who are not interested in online bidding, a Buy It Now option will be available, or bidding assistants can do the work for you. The VIP event will be from 5-7pm, and we will be serving complimentary wine and hors-d'oeuvres. As all auction items will be on display, attendees will be able to bid on the items or purchase the items at the Buy It Now prices before the items are seen by the public.
For the first time EVER, the public is going to be able to bid or purchase the Festival of Trees items. At 7:00 p.m. that evening, we will be opening the Red Cross chapter house doors to the public during the Wooster Window Wonderland event. Bidding assistants will be available to help those who may need assistance. This beautiful Wooster Window Wonderland will help create the classic feeling of window-shopping during Christmastime, and leverage technology and online giving platforms to deliver a seamless fundraising experience.
Any business or philanthropist in Richland County, who wants to make their Red Cross donation, and interested in keeping their dollars local, please make your Sponsorship through Richland Gives.
Red Cross honors donor intent, and Richland Gives is the perfect platform for Richland residents to help the momentum of this annual fundraiser. To the many who donated to the Hurricane Relief, the Red Cross thanks you, as the humanitarian relief during natural disasters, has been intense nationally. However, this event, Festival of Trees, helps fund those annual needs of our local disaster relief. That means when a neighbor loses a home in a windstorm or flood, or home fire, Red Cross can deliver the humanitarian relief that gives people shelter and gives them the resources to get people back on their feet. Festival of Trees and donations through Richland Gives makes it easy to donate to this cause to your local American Red Cross Lake Erie Heartland chapter.
Between November 17th and November 24th, the public is free to stop by the Red Cross office during regular business hours to view the items and get registered to bid. We will be promoting the auction items through Social Media, newspaper, radio, and Richland Gives.
The online auction will remain live until national “Giving Tuesday” the Day of Giving on Tuesday, November 28th, which happens to be the night of our Festival of Trees dinner at Blue Barn Winery. With a small group of 80 individuals who sponsor, and contribute to this Festival of Trees event, dinner will be prepared and served by the Chef from the Wooster Country Club and will feature a full steak dinner compliments of Certified Angus Beef. Blue Barn Winery will be featuring some of their best wines that evening, and we are planning to host an all-inclusive bar. Since the auction will be closing that evening, we will feature the items on a large TV and will only pause a couple times to feature the 3-4 large items prior to the auction closing. We will have a short mission moment as well, to remind everyone why Red Cross continues to remain a vital support to any and all communities.
Since seating is limited, the Festival of Trees dinner tables are reserved through our sponsorships also made possible through RichlandGives.org.
VIP “Reveal” – Friday, November 17th 5-7pm at Red Cross Office
Blue Barn Winery Dinner – Tuesday, November 28th at 6 p.m.
