The Westlake Chamber of Commerce has been sponsoring the Community Holiday Tree at the corner of Bee Cave Road and Rollingwood Drive for 11 consecutive years, but the tradition was in danger of ending this year with a significantly insufficient number of contributions as of press time. The Chamber needs the help of its members and anyone capable of contributing. Please consider donating to this effort to brighten up this corner again. The deadline for donations through the Chamber’s Web site, westlakechamber.org, is Friday at 5 p.m.

We are certain that the Chamber is not alone in seeing a slump in contributors to nonprofit organizations. While there are more important nonprofit efforts, it would be a shame for that corner to be dark this year and have people wonder why the business community could not find support for the Westbank’s only community holiday tree.

It was not surprising to learn that the first contributor this year was Kent Redding of Prudential Texas Realty. He was one of the key people who responded to the idea. He gave $500 the first few years to help get it started and continues to show support. On behalf of the Chamber and community at large, we’d like to say thanks to him and all of the longtime supporters.

Anyone donating $100 will be asked to be in a photo of contributors in front of the tree on Dec. 9, which will be run on the front page of our Dec. 24 issue of the Westlake Picayune. Only $900 to $1,000 is needed, and we are reasonably certain that the community will once again rally and that donations will be sufficient to save this tradition. Also, we hope that any surplus funds from future contributions to the Community Holiday Tree will be placed into a seed fund for next year’s effort.

Lifting spirits of passersby may seem like a small accomplishment when considering all of the accomplishments of nonprofits like the Salvation Army or Mobile Loaves & Fishes, but we hope each member of the Westbank business community will consider giving to this cause if it is within their financial capabilities. Supporting the Community Holiday Tree is a simple, yet beautiful way to wish passersby a happy holiday season.