Alex Gramling just wanted to get rid of a tree.

It was an artificial tree he found while decluttering his home in southern New Hampshire in 2010. Gramling wrote a short post online, offering to give it away. He wasn’t sure anyone would be interested.

Instead, dozens of heartfelt pleas followed, and he ended up giving his old tree to a single mother of two sons who couldn’t afford one. Then he and his wife, AnneMarie, bought a few more trees for others who replied.

“This wasn’t just a family that wanted to help me recycle,” Gramling said.

After that, Gramling said he had a “lightbulb moment.” What if he could find more trees?

And so Christmas Tree Santas was born. Every year, the nonprofit connects social service agencies and schools with free trees for families who need them.

It started with a few hundred trees in Massachusetts, where Gramling was living in 2011, and his home state of Georgia, where his full-time job in health care IT consulting is based. With a boost from Home Depot, which pays for the cost of the trees, and countless volunteers, the nonprofit has branched out to nine states, including Maine, where the Gramling family now lives in the town of Kennebunk.

It’s one of a few similar organizations around the country connecting households with trees for the holidays, along with many other organizations that offer free food, clothing, and toys to people who can’t afford it on their own.

Although the first tree they gave away was artificial, the rest have been real.

COMMUNITY BUILDING

To date, the Santas have distributed trees in a few southern Maine locations, although this year they partnered with an organization in Millinocket.

But requests come from families all over. Christmas trees are expensive – as much as $60 or more for a live tree depending on the size, and that doesn’t include a stand, decorations, and trimmings.

Gramling shared one email from a family living in a motel. The father was unable to work due to health issues but still wanted to provide his family with holiday cheer. In another email, a parent had just moved into their first apartment with a 4-year-old daughter.

“I get these every day throughout the season,” Gramling said.

A few years ago, Gramling got a call from a school in Arundel. They said there was a father who could use a free tree. Gramling picked one up after work, grabbed some lights and ornaments, and headed toward the address he was given.

It took a long time for him to find the home, which was on a trailer lot where none of the homes were marked. It was dark and raining, and Gramling was getting tired.

Eventually, neighbors pointed him to a trailer where he could see four small children huddled around a TV inside. When their father came out and saw the tree, Gramling said he was “gobsmacked,” and the children were jumping up and down with excitement.

He helped bring the tree inside, and he handed off the decorations. Back in his car, Gramling said he cried for 10 minutes.

“This is why I do this,” he said.

BRANCHING OUT

Christmas Tree Santas has grown largely through word of mouth. Gramling hears from social service agencies, pantries, schools, and churches who reach out after reading about the group online. He normally orders all the trees in September.

Many of the people overseeing the distribution of trees in Maine met Gramling through other volunteer organizations.

Katie Brown is the executive director for Youth Full Maine, which manages school food pantries in York County and hosts mobile food distributions.

Last year, Gramling asked Brown if any of the families they help might be interested in a free tree. They ended up offering the trees to families who came through their large December distribution in Biddeford.

This year, at the same event, they gave away 200 trees, with stands, ornaments, and lights. They had a Santa on site and stuffed animals for kids. Hannaford provided the food, including free produce.

“Everybody needs a boost, spiritually, emotionally, mentally,” Brown said. “It shows everybody, like, we’re not just a charity giving you food because you’re hard up. We’re all in this together to help people out, with kind of the full experience when times are tough.”

In Millinocket, the community development nonprofit Our Katahdin gave away about 50 trees this year. Our Katahdin held a small event in December where families could pick up a tree, trimmings, and a $25 Hannaford gift card.

“They were just so happy to have something to brighten their day,” said Michele McInnis, the organization’s community development coordinator. “It was nice to bring them to a place that they had never been before, with a real tree. … They’re just hardworking people as well that wouldn’t take the money to buy something like that if it was a choice.”

THE EXPERIENCE

Christmas Tree Santas has become a yearly tradition for volunteers and the families who get the trees.

Darlene Flores lives outside Boston, about an hour from one of the Santas’ largest distribution events in Newbury, Massachusetts. Flores, a disabled veteran and Native American came to New England after she and her three children were displaced from Puerto Rico by Hurricane Maria.

Flores said she was looking up different organizations around Massachusetts a few years ago who could help her provide a holiday experience for her kids, when she came across the Christmas Tree Santas website. She emailed them and heard back from Gramling, who told her to come to the Newbury event.

She drove down, expecting to just get a free tree. But it came with a stand and decorations, too. There was a Santa on site and tables where her kids could pick up more decorations and snacks.

They’ve been back every year since then. Next year, Flores said, she hopes her family will continue the tradition as volunteers.

“For my family, it lifts the spirits of the kids,” Flores said. “Now that they’re older, they really put the whole tree together by themselves. It definitely brings us closer together.”

Corey Tracey has been volunteering with the Santas in Kennebunk for about five years now. She learned about the program through the Rotary Club of Kennebunk, where she volunteers.

Tracey’s family helps out every year. It’s a smaller event than the one in Newbury, but they still get people from all walks of life. Her husband helps Gramling give the trees a fresh cut and secure trees to the top of cars. She and her young daughter hand out stands, lights, ornaments, and stuffed animals.

“It’s something that brings joy,” Tracey said. “You’ve got lights, you’ve got the smell. With the world how it is, it’s just something small we can do to impact a family’s Christmas … Everybody should be able to enjoy Christmas and just the little joys that come with.”

NEW MEANING

After overseeing the distribution of more than 21,000 trees over 13 years, Gramling said he often wonders, “What are we really doing?”

For every family they help, Gramling knows their problems are deeper than just needing a tree. Some families can’t work. Some families have several jobs and still struggle to get by. They face hunger and poverty. What does a tree do?

“It’s a moment of normalcy,” AnneMarie Gramling said. “Even though it’s fleeting, it’s a memory on its own.”

Perhaps it’s hope, Alex Gramling said.

“There’s so much guilt associated with Christmastime, parents who want to provide for their kids,” he said. “This helps relieve that burden a bit, and it shows them that their neighbors care about them.”

For the Gramlings, their relationship with their own tree also has evolved. AnneMarie Gramling joked that after working so hard on getting everyone else their trees, they’re almost too tired to put up theirs.

But they do it anyway, even if the process is more simplified than when their kids were young even though there aren’t as many presents piled under the tree. It still matters.

“That tree is the gathering spot,” AnneMarie Gramling said. “It is the centerpiece and the representation of the holidays for us.”

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