What happens to the cards left on the tree after the due date?
The return rate from the giving trees is around 60%. That means 40% of the cards do NOT return with gifts attached. Therefore, we duplicate each request and try and find enough places to send them all. In the 20 years we have done Giving Trees, only twice have we sent out ALL the cards. When the gifts arrive, they are sorted by number and bagged by agency. If you pull a card, purchase a gift and it arrives at our warehouse on time, there is a VERY good chance that it will go to exactly the person that is on the wish card. When we are fortunate enough to have both cards come back with gifts, we put one in the reserve which we set up to enable us to substitute for the wishes that do not get fulfilled.
