KEY BISCAYNE, FLA. (WSVN) - A Key Biscayne church’s yearly holiday tradition was put in jeopardy after, officials said, hundreds of pine trees they ordered to raise money for charitable causes were not delivered.
Speaking with 7News on Saturday, the Rev. Dennis Eastling, pastor at Key Biscayne Community Church, said what happened this year has left him heartbroken.
“It kind of feels like Grinch paid us a visit,” he said.
Normally, by this time of year, tents outside the house of worship are full of Christmas trees for sale.
“I ordered 900 trees to be delivered on Nov. 21, on Monday, and they did not arrive,” said Eastling.
As of Monday, the tents remain empty.
Eastling said he ordered the trees months ago from an out-of-state tree broker that he had never worked with before.
“It kind of leaves us in a funk, because it’s the biggest fundraiser that we do all year long, but aside from that, it’s one of the biggest service things I believe we do for our community,” he said.
Eastling said the money the church makes from the sale of the Christmas trees is used for the operations of their ministries, like helping orphanages in other countries.
Right now, the pastor said, they’re out the down payment of the delivery of the first half of the trees.
The pastor said he gave the company more than $34,000, but because nothing was delivered, they’ve asked for their money back.
“But the biggest thing, in my heart, we hire people to come and work the tent, and these people are people that depend on that money, and they work for us year after year after year, and they depend on that money for their Christmas,” said Eastling, “so that’s the thing, that kind of thing that hurts my heart the most.”
Eastling said he has reported this to police, who are looking into it, but investigators told him this is a civil matter.
“We’ll do a little more due diligence next year,” he said.
The pastor said they finally got a hold of the tree broker and asked for their money back. The church is still waiting for that refund and still figuring out ways to make this a good Christmas.
“In my mind, there are bigger and better things,” said Eastling. “I believe that God has a blessing for us, and so, that’s how we go forward.”
The pastor said the company promised them they will receive their refund by Nov. 30.
He also went out of his way and purchased more Christmas trees from a local vendor. Those trees were delivered Monday night.
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