Project Graduation donations still growing: Annual tree sale draws huge crowd, generates $7,500

By JAMES CLARK / Editor for the Southern Standard (McMinnville, Tenn.)

High school seniors Sampson Hitchcock, left, and David Bradshaw load a tree yesterday at the annual Project Graduation Nursery Sale. (James Clark photo)

As high school seniors prepare to put down their roots after graduation, digging up funding for their graduation-night party just got easier.

The annual nursery sale to benefit Project Graduation enjoyed its greatest success to date, raising an estimated $7,500. This year around 50 nurseries and greenhouses donated trees, flowers and shrubs which were sold at Bobby Ray Elementary.

“The area nurseries are just great,” said volunteer Vickie Hollis. “I’ve never had one turn me down when I’ve asked for a donation.”

While local residents will no doubt put the trees to good use, Project Graduation organizers say they obtain about half of their annual donations from this two-day sale alone.

Project Graduation volunteer Marie Padgett says she will be on hand for the all-night party at the Civic Center, which is aimed at giving students a safe, drug-free environment to celebrate their graduation.

“You should have seen how many trees we had here yesterday before everyone starting buying,” said Padgett while looking over a mostly empty Bobby Ray parking lot yesterday afternoon. “We sold just about everything we had and we had a bunch.”

High school seniors also did their share of work. They helped collect trees from nurseries Friday morning and then performed the back-breaking task of lifting many of those trees onto the beds of pickup trucks once they were sold.