By Tanya Steele
Scout units big and small are getting to work on their biggest fundraiser for the year with annual Christmas tree sales kicking off in early December.
1st Selby and Belgrave South units are both selling trees this year and look forward to selling and delivering the beautiful Christmas trees to people throughout the hills.
1st Selby committee member Shona McKendry said that the Joeys and Cubs in previous years have had a great time delivering the trees.
Families work together and the Scouts dress up in their uniforms with a touch of festive flair while loading up and delivering the Christmas trees to people’s homes.
“The kids really enjoy it and the people love seeing them deliver the trees in their uniforms,” she said.
Parent volunteer from the Belgrave South Scouts Rachael Vautier said it is the unit’s third year running the Christmas tree sale and the funds are vital for the scouts to purchase equipment for the unit.
“Our unit has gone through a lot of growth and our numbers have increased,” she said.
“We need to fundraise for more gear, this will be towards purchasing more tents.”
The 1st Selby unit Christmas trees are 80 dollars including delivery and people can pre-order via text or email.
“We have deliveries in the first three Saturdays of December”, Ms McKendry said.
People can order trees from the 1st Selby Scouts by Wednesday for the following Saturday at 1stselbyxmastrees@gmail.com or 0477 516 840
“So say if you order by Wednesday 29, you would get your tree by Saturday 2 December,” she said.
Belgrave South Scouts will be selling trees on both Saturday and Sunday from 9am to 2pm for the first two weekends of December at the IGA carpark in Belgrave South.
“People can pre-order for a discount or come on the day to purchase trees and we can also do local delivery,” Ms Vautier said.
If people haven’t bought a live tree before the Belgrave South Scouts can also sell people a base for it to screw into and trees come between 5 and 8 ft tall.
All the Scouts learn a lot from being onsite and selling trees – working together as a team to coordinate the purchasing and delivery amongst their groups.
“Not only are they raising money for their unit, they are gaining experience and pride when they serve customers,” Ms Vautier said.
Ms McKendry said the 1st Selby Scouts have many loyal customers who reorder every year and that it has been heartening to see that people are willing to donate annually.
“It’s just amazing community spirit from these people, so we really appreciate them getting a tree again each year,” she said.
“It’s a lovely thing to be doing.”
