CAPE MAY, N.J. — Coast Guardsmen are scheduled to receive a delivery of donated Christmas trees from the Trees for Troops program at Training Center Cape May Friday at 9 a.m.
The trees will be distributed to junior-ranking service members on the base including crewmembers of the tenant commands stationed aboard the TRACEN.
“A lot of men and women are deployed and conducting front-line Coast Guard missions during the holidays or, as a young service member, they may not be home with their families for Christmas for the first time,” said Capt. Todd Prestidge, commanding officer of Coast Guard Training Center Cape May. “The support of organizations like the Christmas SPIRIT Foundation is really important to the well being of our members, and the act of recognizing a military member’s sacrifice and showing support with a Christmas tree during that difficult time goes a long way in making their holiday a little brighter.”
Now in its eleventh year, Trees for Troops plans to deliver more than 17,000 Christmas Trees to military bases in the U.S. and overseas. Trees for Troops is a program of the Christmas SPIRIT Foundation, working together with FedEx and members of the National Christmas Tree Association and many state and local Christmas Tree associations.
“Being involved with Trees for Troops is truly a gift that gives back,” said Nigel Manley, Christmas SPIRIT Foundation chairman, in a release dated from 2013. “It’s rewarding and meaningful to everyone involved, because it gives us the opportunity to say thank you to our troops, and helps ensure military families have the kind of joyful, traditional Christmas memories that we would wish for America’s heroes.”
![](http://images04.military.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail_large/public/2024-11/1time%20cher%20uss%20missouri%201200.jpg?itok=qi9yyMAM "Cher's more formal look in her 1989 music video, "If I Could Turn Back Time," filmed aboard the battleship USS Missouri. (Criteron Studios)")
