CAPE MAY, N.J. – Coast Guardsmen will receive a delivery of donated Christmas trees from Trees for Troops at Training Center Cape May Friday at 12:30 p.m.
The trees will be distributed to junior ranking servicemembers on the base including crewmembers of the tennant commands stationed aboard the TRACEN. Trees will also be donated to Coast Guard families whose loved ones are currently deployed for the holiday season like the crew of the Cutter Dependable, who are currently deployed conducting frontline Coast Guard missions.
“The support of organizations like the Christmas SPIRIT Foundation is really important to the well being of our members,” said Capt. Todd Prestidge, the commanding officer of Training Center Cape May. “A lot of men and women are deployed on missions across the world during the holidays and this foundation’s act of recognizing that sacrifice and showing support with a Christmas tree during that difficult time goes a long way in making a family’s holiday a little brighter.”
Now in its tenth 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. “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.”
Coast Guard Training Center Cape May is the Coast Guard’s only enlisted basic training facility and provides logistic, facility and administrative support services to 13 Coast Guard units that support critical Coast Guard missions locally and globally. Coast Guard Cutter Dependable is a 210-foot medium endurance cutter built for multi-week offshore patrols and conducts critical front-line Coast Guard missions including illegal migrant interdiction, counter narcotics, search and rescue, and national defense.
Editor’s Note: Media are invited to attend this event Friday at 12:00 p.m. Please contact CWO John Edwards at O: 609-898-6362, or E: john.d.edwards@uscg.mil if you plan on attending.