Mike Kotarides helps Shanti Rajini, who moved here from Australia and was able to pick out her very first Christmas tree.

LAHAINA – The Rotary Club of Lahaina Sunrise sold its last Christmas tree for the 2016 holiday season and expresses its appreciation to the community for its support.

The Christmas tree sale, the club’s major annual fundraiser, traditionally begins on the day after Thanksgiving.

Sunrise Rotarians have operated the tree lot at Lahaina Cannery Mall in West Maui for the past 11 years.

Proceeds from the Christmas tree sales are used to fund community projects the club supports such as the West Maui Tutoring Program, annual distribution of dictionaries to the schools and town beautification projects around Lahaina.

Additionally, many of the trees are sponsored by generous benefactors and donated to families in need.

The club plans to sell trees again next year and encourages the community to submit e-mail addresses to ann.neizman@boh.com to be added to the pre-sale list to receive an “early bird” discount and notification of tree arrrival.