By Alex Costello
But the frigid cold and biting breeze didn't stop more than 100 people 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."
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 event kicked off with a singing of the national anthem, followed by a prayer. Then three of the Liberty Bells performers recruited Dee's own Santa Claus to accompany them in a version of "Santa Baby."
A number of people gave speeches, most of them beginning with remarks like, "I'll make this quick because it's cold." Mark Bonilla, the Town of Hempstead clerk, came to Trees for Troops armed with citations for everyone involved, on behalf of Town Supervisor Kate Murray. "This is the land of the free," Bonilla said, "because of the brave."
One of those who spoke was Ben Thompson, from the VFW post 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."
Amid the speeches, members of Miss Coleen's Elite Dancentre, from Rockville Centre, wowed the audience with a well-choreographed dance set to holiday music.
"I love it. I think it's great that we do something nice for the troops," said 17-year-old Colleen Lynch, an Oceanside High School senior and the group's oldest dancer. "They obviously protect our country, and I think it's great what they do here."
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 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," Dee said.
From the airport, the trees are loaded onto a cargo plane and sent off to a DHL Middle Eastern hub in Bahrain (a small island state off the east coast of Saudi Arabia), where they are then shipped to Iraq and Afghanistan, and distributed to American troops.
Considering the major operation that Trees for Troops has become, it seems hard to believe that it all began serendipitously. "This started right after the [Iraq] war started," said Steve Dee Jr. His father, Steve Sr., was in the store one day when a woman asked him how she might go about sending a Christmas tree to her son, who was serving in Iraq. Steve Sr., however, had no idea how to help her.
"It just happened that Jim Adelis was in the store at the time, and he runs a security firm at JFK and he knew all the guys from DHL," Steve Jr. recalled. "And he said, 'Hey, maybe I can help you figure something out.' And it took off from there."
"Now it's become a big community event and the kids get involved, all the schools, it's really great," Steve Jr. added.
Area schoolchildren wrote letters to the troops, which got sent over with the trees. Some students attended the sendoff to read a few of the letters aloud. "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."
Aside from all of 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. "We got an e-mail last year from a guy in Montana who got one of the trees," said Steve Dee Jr. "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? ACostello@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 207.
Photos by Bill Kelly/Herald
