Donating to Elephant Sanctuary

The beauty of a real Christmas tree can be lost after the holidays. But Tellico Village resident Lynda Parker found a new use for them a few years ago. Now it's a tradition she keeps alive yearly thanks to her East Tennessee community.

After losing her partner in 2019 Lynda looked to find simple joys, especially during the holiday season. She bought a real Christmas tree and after the holiday passed she thought, "What am I going to do with this now?" Thinking there could be more than a company making wood chips she got to work researching.

Lynda found The Elephant Sanctuary located in Hohenwald. The sanctuary provides respite for elephants that have been in zoos and circuses. As the world's largest animal, they're interestingly an herbivore. They love to eat and play with Christmas trees-like a dog with a bone! Not to mention, Lynda remembered her partner's favorite animal was an elephant.

So in January she drove nearly four hours to drop off a few trees. "It just felt so good to do it," Lynda shared about the endeavor.

As she's done this for a few years now, she keeps getting more trees. She shared the idea on Nextdoor and Facebook with Lenoir City residents for the first time, who have spread the word in neighboring communities.

"This year I just can't believe the response I'm getting," Lynda shared. The Tellico Village Wellness Center has allowed people to drop them off outside. She said, "People are just jumping on board and it's such a good feeling."

Lynda has been collecting them since the day after Christmas. On Thursday, January 11 at 1:00 p.m. at the Tellico Village Wellness Center they'll load them onto trailers. Then on Friday morning she and a group of volunteers will drop off the trees at the sanctuary. As a true sanctuary the elephants' habitats are closed to the public.