New Triangle Nonprofit, ‘Dream-2-Reality,’ Reinvents the Giving Tree Program

Cary, NC (Nov. 18, 2008) A new Triangle-based nonprofit is reinventing the former Giving Tree organization, which in years past provided holiday presents to at-risk children throughout the region. Dream-2-Reality (D2R) will pick up where Giving Tree left off by collecting “Dream Tree” holiday presents for at-risk children in the Triangle region and beyond. The organization also plans to eventually provide additional assistance to these children throughout the year.

“We want to give the dreams of these individuals a chance to become reality, thus came our name, Dream-2-Reality,” says D2R President Rod Graff. “Currently, we are going to focus solely on the Giving Tree effort, but when we get the infrastructure and support, we would like to expand our efforts.”

“I've been doing this for a decade and a season doesn't pass where I hear real life stories from these children that tug at your heart,” states D2R Vice President Laurie Mann. “It matters. It does make a difference when there is a real something brought to a child that the child believed was just a dream.”

Graff and Mann are employed by John Deere, a local company that supported the former Giving Tree project. They will direct the new non-profit and are currently accepting holiday gift sponsors for at-risk children referred by North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.

Graff and Mann welcomed the opportunity to reinvent the Giving Tree program when they learned it had never formalized into a non-profit corporation and consequently disbanded. They accepted the request to help keep the effort going and keep the holidays alive for the hundreds of kids it helped annually in the Triangle area. The first discussions were focused on the holiday wish lists of the children, but organizers soon realized they have the opportunity to keep this effort going all year through. “Need doesn’t end when the holidays are over,” Mann says.

To learn more about D2R, visit www.dream-2-reality.com. Companies, organizations and groups interested in supporting the D2R holiday gift drive by collecting presents for at-risk children, can contact the organization via the website.