our story
In 2019, Bill and Karen had the opportunity to buy the field behind their house. When deciding what to do with the property, Bill only had one thought... he wanted to plant Christmas trees. His idea was to grow the trees so family and friends could come and pick their perfect tree, in exchange for a donation that could be used to help someone at Christmas.
In mid-December 2020, Bill was at work, talking to a co-worker about his idea. A local business owner was on a service call at Bill's work. He asked him what was stopping him from moving forward. Bill explained that the trees grow about one foot each year so he would need to purchase pre-cut trees, which would cost money. The business owner immediately handed him a check saying, "Go buy the trees."
Within a few hours, Bill had a friend helping to get pre-cut trees at a wholesale price, and another friend contacting "Santa" to visit. In total for 2020, Angel Tree Farms opened one day, the week before Christmas, for friends and family. Twenty-three trees were handed out, including seven that were donated and delivered to families financially affected by the COVID quarantine
The donation that year totaled $1000.00. Karen and Bill decided to give the money to the Pediatric Cancer Foundation of the Lehigh Valley, a non-profit that helps over 300 local families as they battle childhood cancer. Over the years, PCFLV has helped Karen's family, their friends' children, and members of their community.
In 2021, Angel Tree Farms began planting trees and was again gifted money from several local businesses, enough to get 80 pre-cut trees. Between friends, family, and neighbors, the donation totaled $5000.00. Going into our 2022 season we were more excited than ever but scared as to what was to come. We experienced lots of new things. We attended our first tree auction, we built our first Santa shed, we were interviewed by WFMZ News, and we went to the Pediatric Cancer Foundation of the Lehigh Valley's, Holiday Stroll. In 2022, we sold a total of 165 trees exchanged for a donation totaling $11,000.
We held our first annual Christmas In July fundraising event. It was a huge success and we made hopeful plans to expand the event for 2024.
We’ve continued to grow and gain traction in the community. With news articles by Lehigh Valley News and the Emmaus High School Stinger. We sold 418 trees and were able to make a donation to PCFLV totaling $20,000. We also gave a $2,000 dollar grant to The Kindness Project, a non-profit that provides free support to foster families throughout eastern Pennsylvania.
We just held our second annual Christmas In July event at the Alburtis Community Center! We extend a huge thank you to everyone who gave time, energy and talent to make it a success. We are grateful for every volunteer, vendor, singer, and especially for everyone who attended.
Angel Tree Farms looks to the future and hopes to add other organizations to their donation list.