Won't light up mall area this season

By THEA RUTHERFORD,NG Nat'l Correspondent,thea@nasguard.com

The 40-foot Cancer Society Christmas Tree, lit by the memories of hundreds of friends and family members of cancer victims and survivors, will spend its first Christmas in darkness in 18 years.

The massive tree was mown down from its spot in front of the Mall at Marathon by a motorist on Sunday afternoon, to the shock and disappointment of members of the society. No one was hurt.

"We just want everyone to know that their love will still shine in our hearts all through Christmas and we're just sorry that this has happened," said a still stunned Susan Roberts, the society's treasurer, yesterday. "We just can't believe it."

Police arrived on the scene on Sunday, along with members of the society, struggling to comprehend what had happened.

"One of my friends passed and called me and said 'your tree is down' and I couldn't believe it," said Gloria Hanna, a Society support group coordinator, who was on the scene.

The Cancer Society imported the idea for the fundraising Christmas Tree nearly 20 years ago from the United States and the American Cancer Society. After attending a seminar on how the fundraiser worked, members of the Cancer Society of The Bahamas brought the project, called "Love Lights a Tree," to the country. Each year the Society sends out letters requesting donations of a minimum of $10 to the people on its mailing list. Those donations, made as gestures of remembrance for individual loved ones, are represented by the lights on the tree.

In addition to the tree is a stand inside the Mall at Marathon that acknowledges the gifts of donors and the names of the people they wish to remember. The tree is lit on the Friday after Thanksgiving every year with a carol service and what Roberts called a "Celebration of life".

"It's been a terrific success story because people can really relate to it," said Roberts. "You can remember a loved one or you can honor a friend or think about a friend who's going through cancer treatments or just make a donation to the Society, but it means basically that almost everybody can participate and be a part of the tree, and it has become a real landmark at Christmas."

Roberts said Sunday's incident was the first for any of the Society's two trees in the near 20 years of their existence. The current tree, one that the organization has used for the fundraiser for about nine years, was stored year-round at Kelly's Warehouse and assembled with the help of Cavalier Construction, Four Seasons crane company and Taylor Industries.

"A tree like that is enormously expensive and they should last approximately 10 to 15 years," said Roberts, who noted that the first tree cost $8,000.

"It's only through the kindness of [the companies] that we're able to do it, because they give of their time and their service."

While the broken tree, carted away on Monday morning in pieces, did not survive the Christmas season, Roberts said that the Society wants people to know that the love that supported the tree will shine on.

"We just want everyone to know that their love will still shine in our hearts all through Christmas, and we're just sorry that this has happened."