Trees for troops at Dees’

A crowd of children, police and veterans gathered in the Dees’ Nursery parking lot on Dec. 5 to celebrate an annual tradition that has now reached its 13th year.

Each Christmas, Dees’ teams up with DHL, a shipping service, to send boxes of trees and cards created by Long Island students to American troops serving abroad. The trees, which were harvested from the nursery’s family tree farm in Maine and packaged into shipping boxes by local girl scouts, are then sent to soldiers in places like Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait.

The donations are greatly appreciated by the troops, according to Army Lt. Col. Thomas Sullivan, who has been both a recipient and sender of the trees throughout the years.

The tradition started in 2004, when a still unknown woman approached Tom Dee, Sr. and asked if there was a way to send a Christmas tree to her son, who had just deployed overseas.

Coincidentally, Jim Adelis, a regular customer of Dees’ who owns an international security firm based out of John F. Kennedy International Airport, heard about the request and reached out to his contacts at DHL Logistics and Freight Company to make it happen.

Thirteen years later, the event has become a staple in Oceanside during the holiday season. This year, children from Oceanside’s Best Buddies attended, along with students from elementary and middle schools in the area. Nassau County Police Commissioner Thomas Krumpter, Department Chief Steven Skrynecki, high-ranking members of state VFW and American Legion organizations and performers from the United Service Organization Show Troupe joined the children for the cause.

“Soldiers know it takes a lot of energy and a lot of love to send a tree to Iraq,” Sullivan said, recalling that during his deployments, men and women under his command would rush to decorate their trees when they arrived on the base. “I’m happy to be able to come back and see their efforts first hand.”