Trees for Troops hopes to deliver 18,000 free, fresh Christmas trees this year with a majority of those going to military families stationed at military installations across the United States. The deliveries will take place at 60-plus bases and units around the world, covering every branch of the armed services, according to a news release.

Rick Dungey, public relations manager at Trees for Troops in Chesterfield, MO, told The Produce News that the first year of the program (2005) it had over 4,000 trees donated by around 200 farms which were delivered to just five military bases in the United States.

“But the program really struck a chord with folks and then we got more requests from bases for trees and more farms willing to donate, and FedEx stepped up and the program expanded,” Dungey said.

The 2014 program will kick off on Tuesday, Nov. 18, at Dull’s Tree Farm in Thorntown, IN, where FedEx volunteers, the Indiana Department of Agriculture, Indiana Christmas Tree growers and local FFA students will help organize, pack and load approximately 200-300 trees to be shipped to U.S. troops stationed overseas.  

Consumers can also be a part of the program by visiting one of the farms or retail lots in over 25 states across the country that will be participating in Trees for Troops Weekend Dec. 5-7.

Each of these locations will have a FedEx trailer parked at the farm/lot so a tree can be purchased and then placed on the truck to be donated and delivered to a military family at one of the bases the following week.

Dungey said that at many of the trailer drop locations, nearby shops and businesses get involved with sponsorships, public awareness, or even buying trees to be added to the trailer.

“I’m sure supermarket managers in those locations have been involved,” said Dungey. “We do have some garden center chains that have also gotten involved in recent years as well.”

One of the most common questions Dungey has heard over the years is, “I’m not near a Christmas tree farm and I don’t work for FedEx, so how can I get involved?” So this year the program is trying something new and launching an online campaign called the “One Thousand Trees Campaign.”

“Many years we get requests for trees, or additional trees, from bases often at the last minute, and we hate to say no to any of those requests,” Dungey said. “So we’re hoping that folks will buy 1,000 trees through our online campaign and allow us to use those extra purchased trees to fulfill those last-minute requests for military families.”

Even though implementation of Trees for Troops happens during a short timeframe, Dungey explained that planning for the program is really a yearlong effort.

“We get a lot of news coverage and attention during the two-week tree delivery period around Christmas, but we have to keep the doors open and plan the whole program beginning in the early spring,” said Dungey. “Like any other charity, we’re always needing cash to pay for operations.”

Trees for Troops is a program of the Christmas SPIRIT Foundation, a charitable branch of the National Christmas Tree Association, and since 2005 it has provided over 139,000 free, farm-grown Christmas trees to military families and troops in the United States and overseas, through donations, sponsorships, grants and the work of many volunteers. Each year, American farm families and the public donate thousands of Christmas trees, and FedEx delivers these trees to more than 60 military bases. FedEx has logged over 498,000 ground miles for the Trees for Troops program.

For more information, visit www.treesfortroops.org.