ATLANTA — Two childhood friends turned business partners are using their Christmas tree delivery service to help Atlanta students pay for college.
"Basically, we sell Christmas trees, and then a portion of our sales goes to local students that go to college," said Calder Johnson, co-founder of Trees for Tuition.
In 2015, during their sophomore year at Midtown High School, Calder Johnson and Jack Fraught started Trees for Tuition out of Johnson's pickup truck to save money for college.
"We started out just doing Christmas tree deliveries in the high school. We opened up our first lot our freshman year in college, and it's just grown exponentially thanks to all the support from the community," Fraught said.
Eight years and six Christmas tree lots later, the duo continues to impact the lives of local high school seniors.
After graduating from the University of Georgia together in 2021, Fraught and Johnson decided to focus on Trees for Tuition full-time. Now, their business has its own scholarship fund.
"We decided to start our own scholarship fund, which helps other local students, just like the just like the business was helping us," Johnson said.
In 2021, the business partners awarded six Atlanta students $2,000 each for their higher education. The following year, 12 students were awarded $2,000 each.
But Johnson and Fraught explain they don't plan to stop anytime soon.
"It's totally dependent on how many trees we sell and how much money we raise," Fraught explained. "This year, we're aiming a little bit higher and hoping to add 10 to 15 more scholarships, if not 20."
Applications for the scholarship are open now, according to Johnson. People can apply online here. The application deadline is July 2024 and winners will be announced in August.
The application is easy to complete to help streamline the process for students interested. All participants need to do is write a short essay explaining how they plan to improve the world after college.
"There's no GPA requirement or financial requirements. We just wanted to kind of help uplift the community, how it helped us," Fraught said.
Atlanta residents still looking for a tree in time for the holidays can shop in person at one of their six lots or online and have it delivered straight to their doorstep. Free installation is also an option at the local company.
Johnson and Fraught want new and old customers to know that when you shop with Trees for Tuition, it's so much more than just a tree.
Families shop for Christmas trees at Atlanta-based, Trees for Tuition
