Meet Cindy Leonard: Founder of the Sharing Tree in Hudson

Making Back-To-School Fun for Everyone

Cindy Leonard’s family founded the Hudson Sharing Tree in 2002 after an encounter Cindy had with a custodian in Stillwater, Minnesota, who was registering his kids for school supplies in their local Sharing Tree program.

“On his registration I saw that he was a Hudson resident, and we couldn’t serve him,” She recalls. “I promised him that this program would be in Hudson the following year, and it was.”

The Sharing Tree is a school supply program for students that attend schools in the Hudson School District. It provides everything from pencils and color markers all the way up to backpacks and calculators, and Cindy has teamed with WESTconsin Credit Union in Hudson to acquire, store, and distribute the supplies.

“WESTconsin’s commitment to us, by allowing me to have storeroom space, probably saves me $1,600, a year,” Cindy says. “And that’s not to mention the time they give volunteering.”