Local Christmas trees find way into troops’ homes

Monday, Dec. 12, 2005

Local Christmas tree farmers, many with declining sales figures, this year donated hundreds of dollars worth of trees to lift the holiday spirits of U.S. troops and their families.

The Trees for Troops collection effort, organized through the National Christmas Tree Association, drew more than 3,500 live trees for U.S. military bases worldwide, including about four dozen from one Buckeystown farmer.

Merhl Mayne of Mayne’s Christmas tree farm on Buckeystown Pike this year signed on to the Trees for Troops drive to volunteer his farm as a central location for other Frederick County farmers to drop off donated trees. With 40 acres of growing conifers on his 170-acre farm, Mayne donated six of his own trees, valued together at about $250, and collected 41 more Christmas trees. A Federal Express truck picked up the trees Nov. 28 and hauled them to military bases throughout the United States.

‘‘It’s going to pick up their moral,” Mayne said. ‘‘It’s going to make it feel more like Christmas.”

The Christmas SPIRIT Foundation, a charitable branch of the National Christmas Tree Association, organized the drive, which included 17 participating state Christmas Tree Associations, including the Winchester-based Maryland Christmas Tree Association.

Nationwide, more than 4,000 trees were collected and shipped to military bases overseas and in the United States. Like trees from other farms along the East Coast, Mayne’s Christmas trees are likely already in the homes of military families in Fort Bragg, N.C.

For the full article, please see the Dec. 15 edition of The Gazette.