Christmas Tree Magic raffle in West Plains will benefit food banks
Five fully decorated artificial Christmas trees with assorted gift baskets and prizes are being raffled off by the West Plains Angels to raise money for the Eastern Washington University pop-up food banks and the Spangle Food Bank.
West Plains Angels co-founder Tony Blount said he got the idea from the annual Christmas Tree Elegance event that benefits the Spokane Symphony. His group has supported local food banks before, and he wanted to do so again.
“People are hungry and need food,” he said. “We want to help.”
Blount said one reason supporting food banks is important to him is that he used them when his children were young, and the family was struggling financially.
“I’ve been there and done that, so I appreciate people who have that need,” he said.
Each of the five trees in the Christmas Tree Magic raffle is named after one of Santa’s reindeer. The Dasher tree is also known as “The Guy Tree.”
“It’s got lots of tools,” he said.
The Dancer tree includes gift cards to local restaurants, including Red Lobster and Noodle Express, plus a gift basket of a bird feeder, seeds and other items. The Blitzen tree is the date night tree. It includes a night’s stay at two local hotels, dinner for two at Red Lobster and two gift baskets. There’s also a painting of two cats staring into the distance, their tails intertwined.
The tree for the ladies is named Cupid. There’s a large variety of lotions, creams, makeup and beauty products, plus a comfy throw blanket. The Prancer tree is a toy bonanza for boys and girls. The prizes include a boy’s bicycle, a girl’s bicycle, dolls, trucks, art supplies and more.
Some of the trees have a few extra touches. One has a train on a track that circles the tree part way up. Another has a flying Santa in his sleigh that circles the top of the tree.
The trees are on display at C&S Auto Sales at 1902 First St. in Cheney. Parked out front is a small red sedan with a bow on top and reindeer antlers. The car, a 2009 Chevrolet Aveo, is also being raffled off.
Raffle tickets for the trees and the car are $1 each and are available at C&S Auto, Copy Junction at 1921 First St. in Cheney and at Harvest Food, 215 WA-902, in Medical Lake.
Several local businesses donated prizes, include State Farm Insurance in Airway Heights, Red Lobster, the Napa Auto Parts locations in Cheney and Airway Heights, the O’Reilly Auto Parts locations in Airway Heights and Cheney, Macy’s, Ace Hardware in Cheney, Les Schwab in Cheney, the Cheney Yoke’s and Birds Unlimited.
The car was donated by C&S Auto, which will also pay the taxes and licensing costs for the car.
Carolos Fuentes, who owns C&S Auto, said he was happy to host the Christmas tree raffle and donate a car.
“Christmas is a holiday we really love,” he said. “It’s in the spirit of giving.”
Fuentes also did it in part to support Blount.
“He’s got a really good heart,” Fuentes said. “He does a lot of good for the community.”
This is the first year for the Christmas Tree Magic raffle. Blount said the donations, while generous, weren’t enough to pay all the expenses.
“Since things are a little tougher, my wife and I are sponsoring four of the trees,” he said.
Blount said every dollar raised from the raffle will go to the food banks at Eastern Washington University and Spangle.
“Everything that comes to us, we give back,” he said. “We get a lot of satisfaction from helping.”
Blount said he hopes to make the Christmas Tree Magic raffle an annual event.
“We’ve got our heart and spirit into this,” he said.
The raffle drawing will be held at noon Dec. 21 and people do not need to be present to win. Raffle tickets will accumulate in plastic boxes until then.
“We’ll shake them all up and pull one out,” Blount said. “You win the tree, the ornaments, all that’s there.”
—
Nina Culver can be reached at nculver47@gmail.com