How Carol Stream neighborhood display turned into Brittany's Trees

Jim Guthrie's "three little ones" saw Brittany Valene as their big sister and role model.

When she learned how to ride a bike, one of Guthrie's daughters inevitably asked to take a spin. Brittany was a cheerleader, and the Guthrie girls would later take up the sport.

"She was very respectful, called everybody Mr. and Mrs.," Guthrie said.

Days before her 9th birthday in February 2005, Brittany died from complications from a little-known heart condition called Long QT syndrome.

Her grieving family, understandably, put up no decorations as the holidays approached.

So Guthrie, who lived next door, mobilized the Carol Stream neighborhood on Matthew Lane around what he thought was a small gesture. They took orders for Christmas trees, no taller than 6 feet, and then donated the money to a foundation that provides resources to families with kids who have the disorder.

Along the block, nearly two dozen homes illuminated the trees - "Brittany's trees" - in their front yards.

"You can never make it right, but let's do what we can to honor Brittany's memory," Guthrie said.

He remembers an outgoing girl at birthday parties who never hesitated when a grown-up asked to see her Irish dance.

"It was a pleasure to see her grow up," he said.

He tells those memories in the 11th year of distributing trees across the suburbs and Chicago. Last year, volunteers raised $31,000 for the Sudden Arrhythmia Death Syndromes Foundation in Salt Lake City.

"We think we're on to something," Guthrie said. "Every year, it's been getting bigger."

For Carol Stream homes, the deadline to order a Colorado blue spruce is Nov. 15. For $40, volunteers will deliver and fasten trees with cable ties and posts in front yards. Each comes with strands of 300 lights. Purchases can be made online at Brittanys-trees.com.

To meet their goal of selling 1,500 trees, Guthrie needs roughly 125 volunteers. On the Friday morning after Thanksgiving, trailers will arrive in the Carol Stream neighborhood with trees from a Michigan nursery.

The group spends several hours unloading the trees, stacking them up along the whole block, and starts making deliveries to the remote towns.

More than a decade after her death, Brittany's classmates from Heritage Lakes Elementary are still expected to show up to haul trees.

"It is an amazing effort," said Trustee Mary Frusolone after Guthrie made a pitch at the village board meeting Monday.

Volunteers will divvy up the rest of the routes the morning of Saturday, Nov. 28. Brittany's Trees provides all three meals for the day.

"They're working hard, and they deserve it," Guthrie said.

Brittany's parents still live in the neighborhood, left "speechless" by what's grown into a holiday tradition.

"All you can do is just be there for them," Guthrie said.