Stolen memorial tree replaced in Lehighton
A look at the original tree that was decorated in Lehighton’s Upper Park as a memorial for 7-month-old Nevah Hoffman before it was stolen late last week. Tragically, Nevah passed away in a house fire at 266 S. First St. on Oct. 23, 2015. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Members of the Lehighton community banded together over the weekend to decorate this new tree as a memorial for 7-month-old Nevah Hoffman after the original tree was stolen in the borough’s Upper Park. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Thanks to the compassion of a community, a stolen Christmas tree in memory of an infant who tragically died several years ago in a Lehighton fire has been replaced.
The tree — a memorial for 7-month-old Nevah Hoffman, who perished in the fire at 266 S. First St. on Oct. 23, 2015, — had been set up in the borough’s Upper Park as part of the borough’s tree lighting ceremony.
Autumn Abelovsky, secretary of the borough parks and recreation board, said late last week, Nevah’s mother and grandparents stopped in the borough office to see the tree and found that it was missing.
“We have absolutely no idea who took it or why,” Abelovsky said. “We called Foothill Farms, (and) they brought another tree Saturday morning.”
Upon word that the tree was missing, Abelovsky said she put a Facebook post up “just to let the community know what had happened.”
“It wasn’t really to focus on the negative part of it that it was stolen, but it was more just a request that if anybody had an ornament to add to it, they could,” she said. “I woke up the next morning, and it had gone viral.”
Abelovsky said there were about 33,000 hits to the post, and it was shared over 400 times.
First thing Saturday morning, Abelovsky said people flooded the Upper Park looking to put ornaments on the tree
“All day Saturday, all day Sunday, just a constant flow of people coming to put ornaments on and show support for the family,” she said. “There were families, little children who made personal ornaments, there were some of our senior population that felt they needed to come and do something.”
Abelovsky said she’s proud how the community banded together to turn a negative into a positive.
“This really hit everyone,” she said. “It was a horrible turn of events that occurred, but Lehighton really rallied together, and they showed what the season of Christmas, and small-town feel of Lehighton is, and really came together.”
The fire was isolated to the top floor of a house that included four apartment units. The fire was extinguished in a matter of minutes, but Nevah was found dead inside the house.
Abelovsky explained why the tree has such significance to the family.
“The grandmother said Nevah passed away, and she never even saw a Christmas,” she said. “This (the memorial tree) is kind of a way for her to have Christmas.”
