(Spirit Lake)– A holiday tradition is back this year at Lakes Regional Healthcare. Jennifer Gustafson, Vice President of Marketing and Retail Services, says the Tree of Love ornament sale is underway…
“Every year they basically have these little wooden ornaments that are in the shape of a heart and they are hand painted, each with a new design every year, and they sell them for five dollars each. Those again fund scholarships for area students pursuing careers in healthcare. But what’s nice is that it’s a fundraiser, but also they have a tree that is specifically known as the Tree of Love and it’s outside of our east, it’s kind of like in our east courtyard area, by our east entrance, and from Thanksgiving through Christmas every year we have that all lit up.”
Gustafson adds every heart on the Tree of Love carries a story of a parent, friend, neighbor, or someone in your life who is special and made a difference…
“They are available for purchase at the volunteer desk inside the hospital’s east entrance which is basically Door L by the surgery center, so it’s off of Zenith Avenue and 23rd Street. Volunteers are staffed at their volunteer desk weekdays 8:00 am to 4:00 pm. You can just go there and buy an ornament. It’s a great little thing to give to someone else to remember them or to give to someone just out of the goodness of your heart. And also a lot of people just kind of collect these every year because they are handmade and something locally done.”
The Tree of Love itself was donated by Leah Streeter, a longtime volunteer at Lakes Regional Healthcare who passed away several years ago. The ornaments are designed and hand painted by her daughter and several LRH volunteers.
