Festival of Trees

The Festival of Trees is a public display of professionally decorated trees, wreaths, centerpieces and Christmas decor, as well as a festive gift shop, children's activities, live entertainment and so much more!. This annual event is organized to maintain and grow the Evergreen Endowment, which funds research through the Children's Foundation and the Clinical Research Institute. This special community event is coordinated through volunteer efforts and dedicated to making critical research funding into the causes and cures of childhood diseases possible. It bonds volunteers, doctors, researchers, the hospital and the community in ensuring that these vital funds flow to where they are most needed, in order to give the children we serve the best possible chance to overcome their challenges and lead fulfilling lives.

Funding from the Festival of Trees Evergreen Endowment has been a crucial source of support for innovative pediatric research projects at the Children’s Hospital of Michigan, providing seed funding that allows physician-scientists to try new ideas to improve the diagnosis and treatment of diseases that affect children. The Festival of Trees Evergreen Endowment for pediatric research has supported over 100 research studies intended to increase physician understanding of acute and chronic diseases and illnesses in children and lead to improved care. The Endowment also helps to support the Children’s Research Center of Michigan to provide crucial mentoring and support to young physicians as they start their research careers.

Festival or Trees’ support of research efforts in general at Children’s Hospital has been crucial in attracting highly skilled doctors and researchers to southeast Michigan. Without this funding, many critical projects would have struggled to get started, or may not have happened at all. Pilot projects which benefited from this funding resulted in significant positive outcomes for children, and have allowed researchers to apply for and receive additional external funding from organizations like the National Institute of Health. This crucial funding is especially important for young researchers, who could now see their ideas being studied on a larger scale, producing more solid outcomes with excellent statistical support for acceptance and a higher likelihood of receiving the additional funding needed to turn their ideas into real treatments and cures for children across the country.