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Getting Ready To Ship Trees For Troops

MAHONING TOWNSHIP — A tree farm in Carbon County has been helping military families celebrate the holidays for a decade. Workers at Yenser’s Tree Fa...
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MAHONING TOWNSHIP -- A tree farm in Carbon County has been helping military families celebrate the holidays for a decade.

Workers at Yenser's Tree Farm are getting ready to ship hundreds of trees for troops.

It's time for people to pick that perfect Christmas decoration for the holiday season.

Yenser's Tree Farm near Lehighton has been cutting down and wrapping trees, but many of these trees in Carbon County will be sent away as part of the Trees for Troops program.

"We've been veterans and we know what it's like to be away from home for the holidays."

Drew Yenser, a partner at Yesner's Tree Farm, served in the Army National Guard. Now, he gets to help military families.

Each year, the farm raises money and donates Christmas trees to military families across the country.

"We've been doing this for 10 years. It's the 10th anniversary of Trees for Troops."

Crews at Yenser's farm will have a busy weekend. They need to cut about 400 trees before they ship them to Georgia.

Yenser says donations are down this year by about 100 trees, but he hopes before they ship the trees on Monday that donations will pick up.

"It seems like word has cut back and things like that. People aren't thinking about that. But people need to remember there's a lot of people who are away from home," Yenser said.

Veterans say the tree is priceless to military families, saying it's another way to remember those who serve and can't make it home for the holidays.

"There's that little bit of that. It's a happy time that can be a little melancholy as well because you know there's something that's missing at that time of the year," said Kevin Long, Lehighton United Veterans Organization.

Students from schools in the Lehighton area also raised money for the cause. The elementary school students say it felt good to help out.

"I hope that they get sent to military families that really need them and don't have enough money," said Shull-David Elementary student Kayvianna Keys.

And they had a message for the troops who fight for our country.

"Thank you!"

If you'd like to make a donation before Monday, you can click here for Yenser's website.

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