Oceanside event provides trees for troops

Dozens of Nassau County and NYPD police motorcycles lined Atlantic Avenue in Ocean-side on Dec. 6, leading a motorcade from Dee’s Nursery to John F. Kennedy International Airport, where Christmas trees donated by the community business were loaded onto planes to be distributed to U.S. troops abroad.

The event marked the 18th straight year that Dee’s and international courier service DHL sent trees to troops overseas as part of Operation Holiday Cheer.

A wide variety of supporters turned out in the Dee’s parking lot, including Gold Star families the Zilinskis and Winchesters, the Chaminade varsity hockey team, the Girl Scouts of Nassau County, Hewlett Elementary School students and several American Legion groups as a few hundred trees were loaded into the back of a DHL truck before embarking for the airport. Students from the Ocean-side School District also sent letters to accompany the trees oversees to the troops.

The Chaminade team accompanied DHL, Dee’s staff and the police motorcade to JFK airport to help load the trees onto the shipping company’s plane. Chaminade Athletic Director Donald Scarola’s son Daniel received a tree from Dee’s and DHL when he was stationed in Kabul, Afghanistan two years ago as a member of the U.S. Air Force. “It meant everything to them,” Scarola said from the stage in the crowded parking lot. “Know that what you’ve been doing, it made their Christmas and holiday memories last a lifetime.”

There was some worry of a Christmas tree shortage that could have forced the event to scale down this year, but Dee’s was able to provide plenty of trees from its Maine farm, which will now serve as some measure of normalcy for troops in Kuwait and Bahrain.

“Luckily, we have our partnership with DHL,” Joe DiDominica said of the potential shipping slowdowns seen during the coronavirus pandemic. “When it comes to the U.S. military, it has to get done, so we’re getting this done.”

DHL Operation Holiday Cheer started in 2004 when the mother of a soldier stationed in Iraq asked Dee’s owners if the DiDominicas could send her son a tree. Tom DiDominica, the nursery’s owner, agreed but needed help to ship it. DiDominica’s friend, businessman Jim Adelis, helped reach DHL Express.

More than 12,000 trees have been sent over the years, and it’s obvious the impact the operation has had on troops and people from local communities.

Adelis put the Dee’s family in touch with Catherine O’Reilly, manager of commercial air and networking routing for DHL, and will always be remembered as an integral part of the partnership. Joe DiDominica said this year especially was in memory of Adelis, who died last April from Covid-19 at 67.

Port Authority Police Lt. Danny Carbonaro was also a part of the first effort 18 years ago. A Vietnam veteran, Carbonaro said he was especially thankful for efforts such as this, as, he said, they highlight the difference in treatment toward the troops from when he served to now. “Most of us wouldn’t even admit to being veterans when we came home,” Carbonaro said. “Now we’re so proud of it. We’re wearing our hats here.”

DiDominica said his favorite part of the event is meeting with active-duty military and veterans. “They’re the salt of the earth, and they’re the reason we all have freedom,” he said. “We didn’t serve, so we felt this was our way of doing something to support them and the guys and gals who do serve.”