Good-Hearted Restaurant Owners Gift 1,000 Free Christmas Trees to Detroit Locals

For some, the holidays can be the hardest time of the year.

Detroit mother Tamika Davis-Shelton lost her job and finalized her divorce this year, and was distraught over how she could bring the holidays home to her four boys.

To Shelton’s surprise, she found the unlikeliest angel to solve her Christmas crisis — the owners of her local McDonald’s.

On Nov. 26, she went to her church and took home a free scotch pine Christmas tree. And she wasn’t the only one. 500 trees were given out through local church and community centers, and another 500 were distributed at a local McDonald’s parking lot, as a Christmas gift from a handful of Detroit area McDonald’s restaurant owners.

“Here’s the really magical part about it,” says Shelton, 45, “This year my divorce was finalized, I lost my job and I lost my mom in August. I have four boys and I was absolutely worried about Christmas. But thanks to the giving of the community, it took the stress off how and when I was going to bring a Christmas tree home.”

Tamika Davis-Shelton Tamika Davis-Shelton Tamika Davis-Shelton

Five hundred trees were distributed to preselected local churches and community centers and in the afternoon the other 500 6-foot pine trees were given out in a McDonald’s parking lot, where hundreds drove through to peruse and pick the perfect tree.

As neighbors picked a tree, chocolate chip cookies and milk were handed out, as well as McDonald’s and Meijer gift cards.

McDonalds McDonald's McDonald's McDonald's

Graphic Designer Sydnee Turner also took a tree home and says “it came at an excellent time.”

“Last year was a blue Christmas for my daughter, she was 13. We didn’t get a tree because I couldn’t afford it. This year it was a big help. When I brought the tree home she immediately ran downstairs and got the decorations.”

For Turner, 50, not only did the tree save the holiday spirit but it takes on a special meaning, marking her first grandchild’s first Christmas.

“My oldest just had a baby six weeks ago and this will be his first tree, his first Christmas. He gets the first kiss in front of the tree!” she says.

Sydnee Turner

One thousand trees later — and 1,000 happy families later — the participants can’t help but feel proud.