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A grass-roots collaborative effort between the Pennsylvania Department of Veterans Affairs, Pennsylvania National Guard and the Pennsylvania Christmas Tree Growers Association accomplished a special goal: to ensure that all Pennsylvania veterans and National Guard members in need are provided an opportunity to have a “real” Christmas tree in their home this year.
The effort was born out of a realization by Pennsylvania National Guard Deputy Adjutant General-Army, Brig. Gen. Laura A. McHugh, while attending “Trees for Troops” kickoff event last year with Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture Russell Redding.
“I asked the folks loading trees onto trucks for shipment, ‘Where are these trees going?’” McHugh said. She learned they were being shipped all around the country to active-duty military members.
Much to McHugh’s surprise, none of those trees grown right here in Pennsylvania would be going to veterans and service members in need in the commonwealth. That realization has grown into what is now called “PA Trees 4 PA Heroes.”
“I want to be very clear, I don’t want to take anything away from ‘Trees for Troops,’ a great program that provides a valuable service for service members,” McHugh said. “But there has to be a way that we can take care of those who are in need here at home, within the commonwealth.”
Earlier this year McHugh pulled together a planning group to explore options, and in mid-August McHugh attended the PCTGA’s summer meeting at the Old Stone Farm in Landenberg to address the association members and gauge interest to support such an effort. The response was generally positive, McHugh Said, and several growers asked how they could get a tree from their farm to a Soldier in need.
Some were even ready to commit on the spot.
“We’re a pretty willing group of people,” said Chris Arader, of Arader Tree Service. “For what you do for us, we’ve got your back!”
From that point the seedling of a program really started to sprout.
“From the start it was clear to me that the DMVA and PA National Guard care a lot for their members and veterans,” said Randy Cypher, PCTGA president.
By fall the DMVA and Pennsylvania National Guard had collected names of nearly 200 veterans and Guard members across the state who are experiencing financial hardship and would be unable to purchase a real Christmas tree for their family this year. All candidates were screened and vetted to ensure their need was genuine.
The team met regularly to work with growers to see if the needs could be met.
“In the beginning we were very optimistic, as one grower contributed a fair number of trees,” Cypher said.
However, by late November it appeared the effort might not grow to its full potential, as just a little more than half the requested trees had been pledged. Nevertheless, in the season of miracles, that number pretty much doubled in the first week of December. This was in large part due to efforts from a former Pennsylvania Guardsman, who now runs a tree farm and pitched in. He also worked to convince some of his fellow growers to support the effort.
“Hopefully we can continue to do this year after year,” Cypher said, adding that this effort was on top of nearly 1,000 Pennsylvania-grown trees that went to support Trees for Troops. “PA growers are really awesome when it comes to taking care of our troops.”
In all, 12 growers from across the commonwealth contributed trees to PA Trees 4 PA Heroes this year: Geissler Tree Farms in Leesport; TLC Tree Farm in Hegins; Arader Farm in Collegeville; Hague’s Christmas Trees in Hatfield; Hozak Farms in Clinton; Lehigh Gorge Nursery in Weatherly; Cypher’s Christmas Trees in Butler; McCurdy’s Tree Farm in Dillsburg; Pinecrest Tree Farms in New Ringgold; Hill Tree Farms in Lehighton; Halabura Farms in Orwigsburg; and JC Hill Farm in New Ringgold.
To help build on this success the PCTGA brought representatives from Nicely Done Sites onboard to help with logo creation and website design.
“I am overwhelmed by the generosity of these growers,” McHugh said. “I look forward to working with them as we continue to further develop this program in the future.”
| Date Taken: | 12.20.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 12.20.2023 09:51 |
| Story ID: | 460427 |
| Location: | FORT INDIANTOWN GAP, PENNSYLVANIA, US |
| Web Views: | 138 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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