By Sunayana Prabhu
Annual Christmas tree sales are about more than spreading joy for local volunteer fire companies: they also put much needed money into the coffers. But what is usually the biggest annual fundraiser hosted by these departments has been severely impacted by an ongoing national shortage of Christmas trees and rising inflation.
While some Two River-area fire houses have stopped selling trees because of the shortage, several others are struggling to keep the tradition alive.
A municipal fire and EMS (Emergency Medical Services) department prepares for, prevents, mitigates and responds to all hazards within a community. Considering the responsibility entrusted to these organizations – consisting mostly of volunteers – a limited revenue source could be an issue.
The annual Christmas tree sale is Fair Haven Fire Department’s “main fundraiser for the year,” said Michael Reddy, former chief safety officer, but “unfortunately, the last two years it’s kind of been tough for us to find a supplier.”
For the second year in a row, Fair Haven’s annual Christmas tree sale has been canceled after the group’s regular tree supplier died and his family didn’t want the long-term investment of growing Christmas trees. It takes anywhere from seven to 10 years to grow a 6- to 7-foot-tall Christmas tree, noted Reddy.
The Fair Haven Fire Department sourced its trees from Pennsylvania for many years but has gone as far as Maine to find pine and firs, without much luck. “We were also hit with the fact that there had been a drought last summer that affected a lot of the trees, combined with the price of fuel for delivery,” Reddy said. “The price would have been very restrictive for us to be able to sell them to our community.”
Although the Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair every summer contributes a large amount of revenue, the annual Christmas tree sale “has been a staple that the community looks for ward to every year and they were quite disappointed,” Reddy said.
In the absence of its own Christmas tree fundraiser, Reddy said Fair Haven will be supporting its neighbor Little Silver for its 36th annual Christmas tree fundraiser, beginning Nov. 25.
The Little Silver Fire Department has been experiencing a tree shortage since the recession of 2008- 09, said Little Silver Chief Chris Faherty. “We saw a lot of tree farms close,” he said. With no local farm large enough to support the Little Silver Fire Department’s need, the group has had to source its trees from a farm outside Quebec, Canada. But to ensure the supply won’t end up with a higher bidder, the Little Silver Christmas Tree committee has been canvassing for its share with the farm owners for a whole year.
“Our committee spends almost the entire year in communication with the tree farm that we purchase trees from,” Faherty said. “So, we invest a lot of effort into nurturing that relationship so we can buy trees directly from a large farm. And that’s really what allows us to ensure our supply and the quality and even the size.”
The trees are priced between $75 and $250. Faherty said transportation of the trees alone costs around $4,000 but “it’s an incredibly important fundraiser.” It not only keeps the tradition alive but “supports the fire and EMS. That means a lot to us,” he said.
The challenge of finding growers is only part of the problem for the Tinton Falls Fire Department whose property can only hold about 500 trees for its fundraiser. “We just basically do the fundraiser so we can maintain certain areas of the building that aren’t covered by district rent,” said David Ciani, an engineer with the department who further noted that it is not just the shortage of trees or a dearth of growers in the area that left them “scrambling.” A disease that’s attacking popular Douglas fir trees has compounded the shortage problem. “Farms where this happens end up cutting out and throwing away or burning entire fields of that species of tree,” Ciani said.
It is difficult for fire companies to bear the upfront transportation costs – rising due to fuel and insurance prices – to keep the trees affordable for the community, Ciani said, but Tinton Falls has a unique solution. “My boss is nice enough to loan us a tractor and a trailer,” he said.
“It saves us at least $2,000 outlay, just by having availability of a tractor and a trailer to load.”
According to Ciani, fund drives and “fill-the-boot” fundraisers, where volunteers stand at intersections and collect money from passing motorist, are good fundraisers, but the sale of Christmas trees remains the Tinton Falls Fire Department’s “biggest fundraiser of the year.”
The financial support provided through fundraisers helps fire houses cover the costs of maintenance and repairs, fund capital projects for the upkeep of the firehouse and much more.
“The ongoing tree shortage, with a record-setting inflation have placed more pressure on this fundraiser than ever before,” according to a flier from the Little Silver Fire and EMS which urged community support, noting the tree sale “will help keep our volunteer Fire & EMS services an important part of our community.”
The article originally appeared in the December 1 – 7, 2022 print edition of The Two River Times.
