Trees for Troops gets help from local grower

GOBLES, Mich. (NEWSCHANNEL 3) – New information is emerging about when the newest troops could arrive on the ground in Afghanistan. The first wave of the new surge will include 16,000 U.S. troops.

About 1,500 Marines from Camp LeJeune in North Carolina will leave later in December, the first reinforcements could arrive in Afghanistan by Christmas. Another 6,200 troops will arrive after the start of the year.

Deployment orders were recently signed by Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

As more troops prepare to ship out, a local tree grower is helping them celebrate the holiday season, shipping trees to the troops with the help of the Christmas Spirit Foundation.

Wahmhoff Farms in Gobles is taking part in the Trees for Troops programs for the fifth straight year, and providing literally thousands of trees.

On Monday morning, volunteers were out at Wahmhoff Farms, tagging trees to send to places like Fort Riley in Kansas, Fort Sill in Oklahoma and Camp LeJeune in North Carolina.

The trees, which are donated by national, state, and regional Christmas tree associations, are destined for military families at bases all across the country, to honor those who serve during the holiday season.

"To me, it's really significant because the soldiers are out there giving their lives for our country, and their families are back home without their soldiers there," said Dan Wahmhoff, owner of Whamhoff Farms. "So I really like to support the soldiers and show them we care, that we know they're here and know they're working for us."

After the trees are loaded into trucks, they are transported for free by FedEx to their destinations.

All the Michigan trees will be headed to military installations in the United States, but there are many other tree growers across the country that will be sending trees overseas.