Trees For Troops Enters Ninth Year

BALLSTON SPA, N.Y. (AP) — A Saratoga County tree farm is collecting Christmas trees from eastern New York growers for the Trees for Troops program, which delivers the holiday evergreens to military bases around the country and overseas.

New York Army National Guard soldiers will be at the Ellms Family Tree Farm in Ballston Spa Monday morning to load donated trees onto FedEx trucks. The soldiers are from the 109th Airlift Wing in Scotia.

This is the ninth year the Ellms Family Tree Farm has served as eastern New York coordinator for the program.

The program was launched in 2005. Last year, it collected nearly 19,000 Christmas trees from more than 450 growers and retailers and delivered them to 60 military bases in the U.S. and another seven overseas.