Trees for troops in the running for a grant from Pepsi!

 
Hey I think this is a great program...One that we have also dedicated our time to support.

Trees for Troops is in the running for a $250k grant from the Pepsi Refresh Everything project. As a big supporter of Trees for Troops, would you encourage your visitors to vote for us? Details at: http://www.treesfortroops.org/ dirct link to vote and more at: www.refresheverything.com/treesfortroops 

Trees for Troops - Extended One Day

This is a repost of the e-news that I sent out last night:

After all these years in the nursery business, I should expect the weather to throw us a few curves. Saturday was just one of those unpleasant days. It definitely wasn't one of those nice days to bring the family out. Because of the poor Saturday weather, our response to Trees for Troops was reduced by about 50% compared to last year. I have gotten in touch with our contact at Federal Express, and I've gotten our Trees for Troops pick-up delayed until Tuesday Morning. So there is still time to help out our troops.

We've been extremely fortunate in getting cards and ornaments donated for our trees. There has been an unbelievable response to my request for help. We have collected over 400 cards, and close to 300 ornaments for the trees. We just haven't been as successful in getting more trees donated :-( So that is another reason that I am asking you again for your help.

I've also had a few people say that things are harder this year, and they just can't afford to donate a tree. For those that can't afford a whole tree, I've created a way to order just a part of a tree. I'll combine those donations together so that I can add more trees to the truck.

I must have your donation by Tuesday, December 8th at 8AM for the Tree to be on the truck. I know that Monday is a difficult day to come out to the Nursery, so I've created a form that you can place your order securely through paypal. By filling out this form in the email you will be taken right to paypal's website. Feel free to forward this email to your friends and office associates. You can also call us between 9am-6pm at 908-232-4076.

If you do have time tomorrow, you can stop by the Nursery and personally pick out your tree.

Help Support Trees for Troops. Choose an option from below and click Buy Now. (If the button doesn't work click here to be taken to the form on my blog)

Branch Supporter $10 scroll for other options $10.00 half a tree - share with another $25.00 6' cut Fraser Fir $50.00 7' cut Fraser Fir $60.00 8' Cut Fraser Fir $70.00

Message to Include with Tree

(Please not that you will get a message that says your tree will be shipped to your address, disregard that message. But we will send you a receipt for your donation for tax purposes)

Many thanks for helping us say thanks to those that give so much.

-Dave Williams

Williams Nursery

Trees for Troops Order Form- Extended till Tuesday Dec 8th

We've extended the deadline till Tuesday December 8th at 8am.
Your tree is considered a donation to the Christmas Spirit Foundation and you will receive a receipt for your taxes.

Note: you will get an email that says your tree will be shipped to you, we will actually send you the receipt, not the tree.

Tree Size

Branch Supporter $10 scroll for other options $10.00 half a tree - share with another $25.00 6' cut Fraser Fir $50.00 7' cut Fraser Fir $60.00 8' Cut Fraser Fir $70.00

Message to Include with Tree

Trees for Troops - News 12

News Twelve NJ stopped by today to help us promote Trees for Troops. This short spot ran on tonites news.

Busy in Garwood - Trees for Troops Part 1

Special thanks to all of the children at the Garwood Public Library.
They made 142 ornaments and 32 cards to go with the trees!

Thank you for all of your help!

See the next post for pictures of the ornaments.

Over 100 Cards - Trees for Troops

I don't know who to personally thank for organizing this card effort, but someone dropped off a large envelope full of cards for the Troops.

It had written on the envelope that it was from the
Kenilworth Daisy Troop,
Westfield Lincoln School Kindergarten Classes
Westtfield Co-Op Nursery School.

Thank you to the organizer, and a great big thank you to the kids that made the cards.

Sometimes a Card makes you crack a smile.

One of my favorite things in the Trees for Troops program, is that I get to look through the cards that the kids have made. Sometimes you get one that just makes you laugh out loud....Still chuckling on this one. It definetly made me smile.

Go USA! - Trees for Troops Ornaments

Wow, Mountainside Daycare provided us with a whole bucket of ornaments and a stack of cards made by their kids. Great Job! I took a photo of one of the sleds. It says it all "GO USA!"
 
 

Thank You Troops - Brownie Troop 752

 

The cards are rolling in. These have been provided from Brownie Troop 752

Trees for Troops - NY WMCA Interview

I had the honor of doing a interview for the 'People with a Purpose' segment on New York's WMCA AM radio. For those that want to listen to the recorded segment click play below.


I also want to thank WMCA for producing and running the following sixty second commercial to help promote Trees for Troops.

November 14, Saturday BACK FROM IRAQ American Pride Parade & Carnival

I wanted to share the following event with everyone. I'll be there and I hope to see you there too.
-Dave

November 14, Saturday
BACK FROM IRAQ American Pride Parade & Carnival

Line the streets of the parade route, fly your American flags, wave your homemade signs, shout your cheers, and welcome back our troops. The Family Readiness Group of the 102nd Cavalry wants to salute our soldiers and their families for their service. They would like to thank you, the community, for your support, before, during and after this deployment. The Parade begins at noon. A celebration following at Army National Guard Armory will be from 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm. The parade route starts at the Memorial Pool Parking Lot. It continues across West Broad Street to Marion Avenue to the 1st left onto First Street, turning right onto Rahway Avenue, and ending at the Armory (500 Rahway Avenue). PURCHASE TICKETS NOW. Adults $10, Students & Seniors $5, Children Under 5 are FREE. Tickets include food, beverages, games and entertainment. Email Nancy 102.cav.frg@gmail.com

Trees for Troops notes featured in Fort Gordon News

Just found out that some of our trees went to Fort Gordon in Washington, and they posted some of the cards that you wrote on their website.
Here's the link
http://www.fortgordonsignal.com/news/2008/1219/spectrum/037.html

Christmas 101

Earlier this week Fedex picked up the Trees for Troops Trailer. I want to thank again all of the hard work that my staff put into the event. We had 86 trees donated, and then Williams donated 15 more for a total of 101 trees. (Lucy made it 102).

Thanks to friends and extended family for their donations. (Great to hear from you cousin Darren in Va). Thanks to the Westfield Leader, and NJN for the great PR). This has been quite an experience, some heart warming moments, and lots of smiles. (I am still smiling about reading the one card some child wrote and said "I hope you win".

We took a few pictures of the weekend events, and Meryl helped layout this card that we all signed and put inside the truck. We wanted to share what happened here with the troops.

Lucy Sneaks into the Truck!

I went over to the Fedex truck to put a card with the load, and found that Lucy jumped into the truck. "Lucy" happens to be a Tree that was grown at the Keris Tree Farm in Allentown NJ, she grew up on a beautiful small town tree farm with many other trees. Someone from the Girl Scout Troop, dropped her in the truck last night with this card attached. What a great bonus gift to our troops.
Thanks to Girl Scout Troop 71692 of Allentown NJ for taking part!

Cubscouts Decorate Cards

My Son's Cub scout Troop from Wilson School stopped in this morning to decorate cards for the Trees. They then picked out a tree and helped load it on the truck. State Senator Tom Kean Jr., stopped in to help with a donation of ten trees. The extra cards that the cub scouts made were then attached to the trees. Thanks Tom, and thanks to the scouts and their parents that stopped in.

Getting the Word Out - NJN TV

NJN stopped by, to help us promote Trees for Troops. You can see me in the last few minutes of this clip.(advance to 23:00)

If any techno geek out there can help me figure out how to actually capture these last few minutes of video, I'd be delighted to know. The clip expires on Wednesday.

Trees for Troops - Friday

We had a great time with the fifth graders from Brookside School in Cranford. They raised over $500 to purchase 11 trees. They helped move and load them on the Fedex truck. They also made and brought laminated cards to attached to the trees. The kindergarten children also wanted to help, so they all made paper gingerbread men to put on the trees!

Trees for Troops online ordering

Just a quick note to let everyone know that you can now order a Tree to send to our Troops direct from our website. Click Here to go to the order page

Trees For Troops

I'm finishing up preperations of our participation of Trees for Troops and should have the information up on our website by the end of the week. Trees for Troops Weekend is Friday Dec 5th - Sunday Dec 7th.

Here is a short video that shows some pictures from last years program...you can see why I'm so excited that we are participating this year.