Last week I shared Christmas Tree Market’s "Christmas in the Community" Tree that my daughter’s Girl Scout troop helped decorate for Bay Area Community Services.  What I didn’t mention is that it was not the only charity tree that the troop worked on.  This winter the girls are working on their Animal Journey badges and so we also partnered with our local SPCA shelter to not only decorate their lobby, but also to collect donations on behalf of the shelter animals.

The girls collected donations of toys, food, treats and other pet supplies and we turned them into ornaments for the tree.    I also created some simple paper ornaments by printing out all the images of the current animals which were available for adoption.

We used leashes and collars as garland and turned bags of food into “presents” under the tree.  
The Christmas Tree Market 6 foot Frasier Fir was pre-lit which meant it was easy to set up so the girls could get right to decorating!
After the installation and decorating, the kids were able to tour the facility and meet a few of the animals up for adoption. My girls fell in love with the kittens: And the staff of the SPCA also treated us to a wonderful presentation explaining the work that they do, and the things everyone, even 1st graders, can do to help homeless animals.
The girls really loved this project and the staff of the SPCA were so grateful for all our work and donations.  (And I was able to leave without adding any pets to our family!)
I would call that a resounding success.

AN UPDATE ON THE COTS: WORK READY APPAREL PROGRAM
I want to take a minute to give you an update about last year’s charity recipient of both my tree (at the Mary Isaak Center) and Centsational Girl’s (at the Work Ready Apparel Store). 

Jennifer (Christmas Tree Market), Myself, Jenna (Work Ready), Kate

The Apparel program provides free professional clothing to homeless job seekers that would not be able to afford it on their own. (More details about both programs are in last year’s post as well as in Kate’s post).  Last year I installed some signage using vinyl I cut on my Silhouette Cameo, but since that time the program has lost their lease at that original location.

Thankfully they have actually found a new location, but that also meant I needed to drive up to Sonoma and re-install a new sign:

I was amazed with the beautiful new space. This move was actually a blessing in disguise, since the new space is almost 3 times larger (which is great since they have had so many donations to the program)
And they were able to reuse so many of the beautiful elements from the original space:And they have helped hundreds of people on the road to finding permanent employment by providing them with suitable clothing for both interviews as well as employment in a professional workplace. I want to thank Christmas Tree Market for providing me with these wonderful opportunities to work closely with these non-profit organizations.  As you can see, I have created some wonderful long-term relationships with these programs, and I have gotten so much back.