Pleasant Valley firefighters ship 600 trees to armed forces

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SALT POINT – The Pleasant Valley Fire District, with mutual aid from other area departments and community members, loaded 600 live Christmas trees onto two FedEx trailers for the annual “Trees for Troops” drive on Saturday, November 27.  The trailers were loaded at Hahn Farm on Salt Point Turnpike.

 

The nationwide movement began in 2005 when the National Christmas Tree Association formed the non-profit Christmas SPIRIT Foundation to unite local tree growers who were running small tree programs for troops.  Through a partnership with FedEx, the Trees for Troops program has delivered more than 265,000 trees to military families in the U.S. and to troops stationed overseas in countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Qatar, Spain, and Guam. Christmas

Tree growers and individuals around the country donate the trees, while FedEx provides the shipping for them.

 

In Pleasant Valley, $16,000 was raised by the firefighters and the community under the direction of current firefighter and past Assistant Chief Jeff Cady for the trees this year. In a partnership with Hahn Farm, the department’s prolific fundraising efforts will be providing hundreds of trees to American service members around the world, Cady noted.

Cady, who is also an integral part of Pleasant Valley’s Hometown Heroes program, gave special thanks to the Union Vale Fire Department that raised $2,000 for Pleasant Valley’s tree program.  “Our brothers and sisters in Union Vale really gave the program a boost this year.  They sold t-shirts and are donating the proceeds to us – it’s very humbling.”

 

“This year was incredible,” said Cady. “We’ve never collected this many trees before,” he said, after 40 minutes spent loading the FedEx trailers.  Offering a few words of thanks, Cady was interrupted by several of the attendees who encouraged him to aim for collecting 1,000 trees in 2022. “That’s a lofty goal, but The Pleasant Valley Fire District has the potential,” he told Mid-Hudson News.




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