Service Members to Receive Trees for the Holidays
Service Members to Receive Trees for the Holidays
The Trees for Troops program is once again providing live Christmas trees to help make the spirit of the holiday season a little brighter for Sailors, Soldiers, Airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen at Naval Air Station Whiting Field.
As in the previous two years of the program, about 100 trees will be delivered to the base for service members to pick up free of charge. If past trends hold true, most will have new home within just an hour or two. All the trees in the past have been with a military family by the end of the second day of the program’s distribution. The anticipated delivery date is Dec. 4 and distribution will take place behind the Chief Petty Officer’s Mess. The base’s Morale Welfare and Recreation department coordinated the delivery of the trees all three years.
“We are honored to work with The Christmas Spirit Foundation, FEDEX, area growers, and base leadership to help bring these free Christmas Trees to our active duty and activated personnel from the area. It’s just another small way we have of thanking our troops and their families for their service and sacrifice associated with being in the military,” Joe Vukovcan, NAS Whiting Field’s MWR director stated.
The trees are donated by various tree growers across the country in cooperation with the Christmas SPIRIT Foundation. Donations help offset the cost of some of the trees as well as paying for the transportation of the trees via Federal Express.
In all, more than 60 military bases across the country will receive trees through the programs from people who wish to express their appreciation for the sacrifices military members make through their service. More than 17,000 trees will be distributed through the program, with at least 350 going to forward deployed bases like Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan and camps in Kuwait.
Morale Welfare and Recreation (MWR) who supervised the distribution of the trees, coordinated with the Trees for Troops organizers to bring the program to NAS Whiting Field. This is the third year the trees have been available.
“This is such a great program for our men and woman servicemebers. Like their mission statement says, “Delivering the spirit of Christmas to our military families-one Christmas Tree at a time.” It’s heartwarming to know that organizations like Trees for Troops are out there offering such great support to our men and women in uniform especially during this meaningful time of year,” Capt. Matthew Coughlin, NAS Whiting Field commanding officer said.
See http://www.treesfortroops.org for more details about the program.