2019 Holiday Tree Festival raises $320,000 for Akron Children’s Hospital

01-13-2020 (Akron, Ohio )

The 38th annual Holiday Tree Festival, which took place in November, raised $320,000 for patient care programs at Akron Children’s.

“The dedication of our volunteers and the overwhelming support of the community combined to make this event an outstanding success,” said Mary Leuca, chair of the 2019 Holiday Tree Festival. “Collectively, our volunteers gave more than 5,000 hours of their time to continue the Holiday Tree Festival tradition this past year, it really is a team effort.”

The amount was announced at a thank you luncheon on Jan. 9 for the volunteers, who have presented the festival to the community since it began in 1982. The Holiday Tree Festival has raised more than $6.3 million for the hospital.

“We could not have this type of continued success every year without the dedication of the volunteers,” said Vicki Parisi, director of volunteer and visitor services at Akron Children's. “They are truly the heart and soul of the Holiday Tree Festival.”

Plans are already underway for the 39th annual Holiday Tree Festival, which will be held Nov. 21-29, 2020 at the John S. Knight Center. Applications to decorate and donate a tree, wreath or holiday gift for the 2020 event will be available to the public online beginning August 1. For more information, visit akronchildrens.org/treefestival.