LFCS Hosts 9th Annual Festival of Trees
Event expands with new Trail of Trees and Holiday Home Luncheon

11/14/05

COLUMBIA, Mo., Nov. 14, 2005 - Lutheran Family and Children's Services of Missouri is expanding its 9th Annual Festival of Trees with events from Nov. 1 through Dec. 3.

The festivities commence with the new Trail of Trees, on display now through Nov. 28. Visitors can take a free, self-guided tour of 17 fully decorated holiday trees in various downtown businesses. A guide with tree descriptions and locations is available from LFCS or the Columbia Convention and Visitors Bureau, LFCS' Trail of Trees partner organization.

The Columbia Chamber of Commerce will officially kick off the Festival of Trees with a mixer and ribbon cutting on Thursday, Dec. 1, and LFCS is debuting a new event -the Holiday Home Luncheon- from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 2. The luncheon promises to entertain with a silent auction and holiday decoration demonstrations by Kent's Floral Gallery. The event is open to the public; reservations are $15 and available on a limited basis.

The complete collection of holiday trees from the Trail of Trees can be viewed at the historic Tiger Hotel from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 3, at the Festival of Trees open house. Later that evening, the trees can be purchased by silent and live auction at a gala to benefit LFCS. The open house is free and open to the public; the $50 gala tickets are limited and include a cash bar and hors d'oeuvres, followed by a sit down dinner with complimentary wine.

More than 500 people attended last year�s Festival of Trees, which grossed approximately $22,000. Attendance and earnings more than doubled from 2003 to 2004, with more growth expected in 2005. All event tickets can be purchased through LFCS. For more information, call 573/815-9955.

Lutheran Family and Children�s Services of Missouri is a non-profit, statewide social service organization providing counseling, adoption, crisis pregnancy assistance, day care and mentoring services to the community. With offices in Columbia, St. Louis, Cape Girardeau and Springfield, LFCS touches the lives of more than 22,000 individuals annually. The services provided by LFCS are open to everyone regardless of race, faith, national origin, gender or age. Although Lutheran based, more than 80 percent of families served are non-Lutheran. For more information, visit www.lfcsmo.org.

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Editor�s note: For features preceding the Dec. 1-3 Festival of Trees, the Trail of Trees is available as a photo opportunity Nov. 1-28. Trees are located at Addison's, American Shoe, Bingham's, Bluestem, Boone Tavern, Calhoun's, Commerce Bank, Inside Outlet, Kent's, Lulu's Repose, McAdams Ltd, Poppy, LFCS, The Pen Point, Trattoria Strada Nova, Village Wine & Cheese and Puckett�s.

Lutheran Family and Children�s Services of Missouri is located at: 401 West Boulevard North, Suite B, Columbia, Mo. (65203). 8631 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, Mo. (63124). 2911 Breckenridge, Cape Girardeau, Mo. (63701). 1400 S. Kimbrough, Springfield, Mo. (65807).

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Yolanda Rodgers, Public Relations/Marketing Coordinator
314-754-2783 (direct office contact)
314-606-5787 (cellular contact)