The Bermuda Brickyard has raised more than $100,000 for charity by selling Christmas trees over the past 14 years.

They have sold all of the more than 1,500 trees they brought in for the season.

Their BermudaXmasTrees programme focused on contributions to youth programmes such as Big Brothers and Big Sisters, or YouthNet.

Covid-19 changed that dynamic.

“Covid was so devastating we were focused more on helping families,” programme organiser Phil Martin said.

The latest round of charities have not yet been chosen, but now that the Covid-19 threat is diminishing Mr Martin thought they would probably look more at young people, again.

“We don’t want to make a big deal about where the money goes,” he said. “We quietly give money out to benefit areas that we have agreed upon.”

They typically donate around $6,000 annually.

“The hardest thing about this is not getting the trees to Bermuda,” Mr Martin said. “It is managing customer expectation.”

In the beginning they would carefully select specific trees for the needs of their clients and deliver them. This did not always work out so well.

“Everyone has different expectations on what they want,” he said. “There was often a mismatch in what we had and what they wanted.”

Now, when a shipment arrives in early December clients go to the Mill Creek business, select their own tree and take it home themselves.

Brickyard owner Peter Schindel founded the programme back in 2009, wanting to give back to the community and provide low-cost trees.

“Our average six to seven-footer costs around $164,” Mr Martin said.

Each year, they bring in two containers each with 750 to 800 trees.

While some importers had problems with the quality of their trees this year due to shipping issues, BermudaXmasTrees did not.

“Ours were just fine,” Mr Martin said.

Their supplier is a small Vermont Christmas tree farm near the border with Quebec.

“We have had the same supplier since Day 1,” he said. “He has a tree farm. We order trees, he cuts and sends them down. Unlike large tree farms, the trees are not standardised, although they are all approximately the same size and look good. We have been to the farm to visit, and the supplier is a great guy.”