Correspondent photo / Nancilynn Gatta Jace Leibert, 4, of Niles, looks at one of the seven theme-decorated trees at Home Carpet Flooring & Design, 8479 Market St. in Boardman, while his grandmother, Deanna Eddy, purchases tickets for the decorated Christmas tree fundraiser for the Vail’s Voice Foundation. The drawing for the trees, their ornaments and the gifts that surround them is at 7 p.m. Friday.

BOARDMAN — You may not realize that there is a need until you experience it yourself. When you do so, you figure out a way to help.

That was the impetus for the creation of the Vail’s Voice Foundation. Vail’s parents, George Rohan III and his wife, Ashlee Russo, started the foundation after Vail’s six-month hospital stay.

“Vail was born Aug. 10, 2020, during COVID-19. She was diagnosed in utero with Down Syndrome and congenital heart disease,” George III said.

In January of 2021, she was hospitalized with a severe illness and stayed there for six months. While they were at the hospital, they met other families staying overnight with their children. Oftentimes, they arrived in an emergency situation not planning to remain there, so they lacked necessities such as a toothbrush or blanket.

“George and Ashlee were lucky. She could take a leave of absence from work and we ran the things here at the business,” said George Rohan.

The Rohans run the family-owned business, Home Carpet Flooring & Design, 8479 Market St. in Boardman.

George III and Ashlee started the foundation with the purpose of helping and supporting families with children going through serious and prolonged illnesses. They have donated toothbrushes, blankets, Thanksgiving meals and other personal necessities to Akron Children’s and University Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital in Cleveland.

Nonprofit organizations need funding to keep their mission thriving. Gerri Rohan, Vail’s grandmother and third co-owner of the business, wanted to make a holiday Christmas tree donation, and it became the cornerstone of the foundation’s year-end donations.

“We were going to do it during COVID, but we could not bring them into the hospital, so we set them up in the showroom. We had two trees, and it has grown to seven trees,” Gerri Rohan said.

V’s trees is a display of artificial Christmas trees of 5 feet, 7 feet and 9 feet decorated with different themes. The themes for this year’s trees are Hot Wheels, Gingerbread, Mickey Mouse & Friends, bourbon and cigar, gold and blue, silver and white, and wilderness.

“I have not repeated a theme yet in four years,” Gerri Rohan said.

She is open to suggestions for next year’s tree themes.

She said she looks for gifts to surround the tree or ornaments for her theme throughout the year.

“I found a lot of princess dresses after Halloween or I look for items after Christmas for the next year,” she said.

She began decorating the trees in the showroom, but as the endeavor has grown, she has moved her workshop.

“We build them all in my garage. The last two years, the majority of them we make at home, we finish them at the showroom. Then we bring them to the store by truck,” she said. Her cousin, Charmaine Mike, helps with decorating the trees.

The firs are installed at the showroom in November to allow a month of raffle ticket purchases for the nonprofit.

The culmination of V’s Trees will take place on Friday with the drawing at 7 p.m. Prior to the drawing is a party with Santa Claus, food and craft projects.

Tickets are $10 each. Winners receive the artificial tree with the decorations on the tree and the gifts underneath and around it. Delivery is available.

To purchase a ticket, call Home Carpet at 330-629-8777 or visit Home Carpet Flooring and Design. Tickets will be sold until the 7 p.m. drawing.

For more information on the Vail’s Voice Foundation and its mission or their other fundraisers, visit their website vailsvoice.org.