Christmas is in the air

Christmas is a time for family, giving and reflection — but for military personnel overseas, it’s another day of fighting for our freedom and spending precious time away from loved ones.

For the past six years, Dees’ Nursery in Oceanside, with the help of air cargo shipping company DHL and many local citizens and businesses in the community, has sent Christmas trees, decorations, ornaments, menorahs and Christmas cards to troops stationed in Afghanistan and Iraq. At this year’s Trees for Troops sendoff on Dec. 7, Dees’ shipped off 500 trees and other holiday gifts, and several Hewlett Elementary School fourth-graders took part in the event.

The Hewlett students, from Herman Stillman's fourth-grade class, read holiday cards they wrote to servicemen stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan before heading to the DHL terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport, where they helped load cards and trees onto a cargo plane.

The nursery’s owner, Joseph DiDominica, said it means a lot to his family that they support the troops, and this is one way they can show their appreciation. “It’s so important to support the military because they risk their lives so we can live ours,” DiDominica said.

His brother, Steven, agreed that this was the least they could do to show their support. “This little bit is minuscule in comparison to their sacrifice,” Steven said.

According to DHL spokesman Robert Mintz, the trees and holiday items were flown out of JFK to Germany the night of Dec. 7, and then shipped to Bahrain — a small island country in the Persian Gulf — and on to Iraq and Afghanistan. John Bellamy, the pilot who delivered the cargo, said this is something he loves to do every year. “It’s fantastic,” Bellamy said. “I’m really looking forward to it.”

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