It’s a Christmas tradition in southwest Michigan. Around 100 volunteers gathered at Wahmhoff Farms in Gobles on Monday to load up trucks with free Christmas trees for military personnel as part of the Trees for Troops campaign. The farm’s Betsy Wahmhoff Perales tells us they’ve been doing this since 2005.
“Our father was in the Army, my son was in the Marines, we’ve got two nephews that were in the Navy and Army and a niece in the Air Force,” Perales said. “So, our family is very cognizant of the military and very grateful and thankful of everything our military does for us.”
Perales says Wahmhoff Farms is part of a national Trees for Troops program that ships out Christmas trees to military bases each winter. 386 trees were loaded up at the Van Buren County farm Monday thanks to all the people who turned out.
“We love that veterans come and help us load the trees and we’re so glad to be able to send the trees to military bases where families can get a tree for free. They don’t have to pay for it, it’s just a blessing from Christmas tree farmers and other citizens from the community who just want to say thank you during the holidays.”
Perales says there were many veterans along with elected officials among the volunteers. All of the Christmas trees were donated by Michigan farms, with 185 of them being from Wahmhoff Farms. The trees will go to Fort Campbell in Kentucky.
Photo taken from the Facebook page of state Senate Aric Nesbitt.
