The Spirit Foundation and Fedex delivered Trees for Troops at the start of Fort Eisenhower’s Christmas Fest Thursday.
Trees for Troops, now in its 20th year, gave away nearly 500 Christmas trees to service members, starting with the most junior enlisted members who lined up for a tree at Barton Field.
“They may not be able to afford to go home and this is a good way to kind of kick off that holiday spirit and give back to our service members,” said Jennifer Partridge, director of Army Community Service.
Some of the trees were donated by a local farm, while others came from Utah via Fedex, Patridge said. Families who donated trees were able to write personalized messages on tags to the soldiers, she said.
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“I think it is an absolutely amazing show of kindness for the troops, and especially here on Fort Eisenhower, to have a day where you can come by while the Christmas Fest is already going on,” said Sgt. Jacob Martin, a volunteer manager helping with the tree distribution Thursday.
“It’s the kindness of the volunteers who come out here every single year to help hand-deliver the tree to your car so you can have an actual fresh tree,” he said.
Dozens of volunteers tied trees to families’ vehicles while the Christmas Fest went on with a festival of gift shopping, hayrides, Santa’s arrival, a tree lighting and bonfire.
Josh Atanovich, a signal officer in the basic officer leaders course, said the tree donation means a lot, especially for younger soldiers new to military life.
“There’s a deeper sense, especially giving the opportunity for lower enlisted soldiers to have a little bit of holiday cheer,” he said. “They’re new in their careers; it’s kind of a new experience, especially active duty and it’s giving the opportunity to bring a little holiday cheer into uncharted waters.”
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Atanovich said he did not recall similar gestures when he was a younger soldier.
“It’s nice to see the evolution of community and the efforts that are put forth for the family because that’s the most important,” he said.
“The military, especially on an active installation it’s fostering that community trust and support, whether it’s for the less fortunate or people going through hardship, whatever that means. I think the big focus is bringing the most junior lowest enlisted soldier up.”
