By Paul Shapiro and Alex Costello
But the frigid cold and biting breeze didn't stop 22 Hewlett Elementary School students from Carole Kreisberg's class, along with their principal, Sandra Pensak, from gathering at Dee's Nursery in Oceanside for the business's fifth annual Trees for Troops event.
"Today we're going to be sending over 400 [trees] from here, and there's 100 coming over from California as well," said Cain Moodie, director of DHL Express at John F. Kennedy International Airport. "There's cards, there's decorations, lights, ornaments — everything you need for the Christmas trees to get set up. And there's heartfelt messages from the school kids."
Moodie invited his daughter Rianne's fifth-grade class at Hewlett Elementary to take part in the event. The students were thankful to be able to help. "The students in Mrs. Kreisberg's fifth-grade class participated in an activity that we will remember forever," said students Carly Fisher and Ali Hagen in a “reflection” letter afterward. "We sent Christmas trees and homemade holiday cards to the troops in Iraq."
The trees had a long and interesting journey to get to American troops fighting overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan. They were shipped from Maine, where Dee's grows them, to the nursery in Oceanside. There they received quite a sendoff, from the Nassau County Police Department band, the USO Liberty Bells, dozens of police officers from across the area, soldiers, students from nearby schools, veterans from various VFW posts, and politicians.
"The students felt very proud to have been able to participate in an event that was as meaningful as this," Pensak said. "Taking time to come together, where they were all so amazed to see real soldiers, and that this tribute was raising awareness about the people who serve our country, who are so far away from home this time of year. Those people are missing what we all look forward to, which is to be with family. And to bring them a little bit of home by sending them these cards and trees is a wonderful thing."
A number of people gave speeches, most of them beginning with remarks like, "I'll make this quick because it's cold." Members of Miss Coleen's Elite Dancentre, from Rockville Centre, wowed the audience with a well-choreographed dance set to holiday music. Three Hewlett students — Noah Cohen, Carly Fisher and Rianne Moodie –—got to read their holiday cards, which were sent over to the troops with the trees, during the ceremony.
One of those who spoke was Ben Thompson, from the VFW branch in Jamaica, Queens. "I know people keep saying the economy is tough," Thompson said. "But when you talk to the vets and ask them to help, they'll find the money."
Thompson presented a check for $13,500 to the Trees for Troops organizers. "Being a Vietnam vet, I know what it's like to be away from home during the holidays," he said, "and with the troops over there now, it's just trying to bring a little bit of home over there to them. It makes them feel good."
After all the inspirational remarks and performances were finished, the trees, ornaments, lights and cards were loaded into the back of a large DHL truck and taken to JFK. But this was no ordinary trip to the airport. "We get a police escort right to JFK," said Joe Dee, brother of Steve Dee Jr., who owns the nursery. "It takes us all of maybe five minutes to get there."
According to Steve Dee Jr., the police close down all the side streets on Sunrise Highway and lead the way to the airport. "You've never gotten to JFK so quickly in your life," he said.
The Hewlett Elementary students were lucky enough to be part of the airport motorcade to see the trees off on their trip overseas. "We were standing outside for what seemed like two hours," Pensak said. "And going from there to Kennedy, there was a lot of ceremony involved in this. They were really very impressed ... because it was a very formal ceremony, with speeches and entertainment and tributes to the soldiers. They were very touched to be included in such an assemblance as this."
Three more Hewlett students — Milan Ferrari, Lauren Smartenko and Sebastian Quinterous — read a few of the letters aloud at the sendoff at JFK, as their classmates did at Dee's. "Each message was so sweet and so personal, even though they didn't know who they were writing to," Pensak said.
"We have thousands, thousands of cards," said Denise Roche, an "original Dee," as she put it. "And I think that means more to the guys than anything."
From the airport, the trees were loaded onto a cargo plane and flown to a DHL Middle Eastern hub in Bahrain (a small island state off the east coast of Saudi Arabia), where they were to be shipped to Iraq and Afghanistan and distributed to American troops.
"Mrs. Kreisberg's class is so thankful to be able to be a part of something very special like this," Carly Fisher and Ali Hagen said in their letter. "Even though it was freezing outside, we braved the cold and stayed outside because we knew that it was for a good cause."
Aside from all the pomp and circumstance, the speeches, the USO performances, the dances, the emotional reading of schoolchildren's cards and the police escort to the airport, Trees for Troops boils down to a simple patriotic idea: supporting the troops. "It's become a big community event and the kids get involved, all the schools, it's really great," said Steve Dee Jr. "… We got an e-mail last year from a guy in Montana who got one of the trees. He ... said, 'I grabbed the box, I put my head in the box and didn't take it out for an hour, it reminded me of home so much.'
"So that sums it up in a nutshell," Dee added. "At least they get a little bit of Christmas over there."
Comments about this story? PShapiro@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 201.
