News: Christmas Events

‘Tis the Season...

LEGO clubs help children and hospitals during Christmas season. BrickJournal spotlights one effort in Atlanta and clubs in the US that have done community services.

Article by Scott Lyttle
Photos by James Trobaugh

For the past five years, the North Georgia LEGO Train Club (NGLTC) has been participating in their local
“Festival of Trees” fundraiser. One of Atlanta’s premier holiday events, the Festival of Trees features specialty shops and fun activities for children, while raising funds for the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA) children’s hospitals. Each year, proceeds are targeted at a particular portion or center of the hospital. For 2005, proceeds for the event will benefit the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Children’s Healthcare.

To help make the tree special each year, NGLTC incorporates the help of patients at Children’s Healthcare,
bringing tubs of loose brick, along with advent calendars, in the hospital’s activity room. Children from the
hospital come down to build ornaments and other Christmas items out of LEGO bricks. “It’s some fun time away from being sick.” Says James Trobaugh, NGLTC’s founder and president. These ornaments are then placed on a tree, and sold at the Festival of Trees event, to raise money for Children’s Healthcare. The money is then used throughout the hospital, including providing funds for those families not able to afford treatment.

The LEGO Group (TLG), with much help from LEGO Brand Retail, has helped provide sets for the  participants of the build sessions each year. As children leave the build session, each is given a LEGO set to take with them and build back in their rooms.

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