Operation Green Christmas Brings Cheer to Troops

Pennsylvania National Guard troops serving in Balad, Iraq will get a green Christmas this year thanks to the generosity of Pennsylvania Landscape & Nursery Association (PLNA) members and the Pennsylvania Mushroom Growers Association.

On Dec. 6, PLNA and three of its members—Eaton Farms, Henry Molded Products and Strathmeyer Forests—presented Christmas trees, plants, and nursery containers at a press conference to be shipped to our men and women serving in Iraq. The Mushroom Growers Association provided funding for the shipment, and state employees provided Christmas decorations for the troops.

They were joined by Rep. Tim Solobay, Agriculture Secretary Dennis Wolff, Major General Jessica Wright of the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, and the Pennsylvania National Guard.

The idea first came to light when Mike Pechart of PDA contacted PLNA about the possibility of providing live landscape plants to Pa. National Guardsmen serving in Iraq. Around the same time Solobay received a letter from Pa. National Guardsman Captain Kevin M. McNamara, deputy public affairs officer, 316th Expeditionary Sustainment Command, stationed in Baghdad. In the letter, McNamara asked Rep. Solobay to help bring fresh-cut Christmas trees and decorations to the troops.

“Being in the desert in the winter is not a whole lot of fun,” said McNamara. “It’s cold with dirt, dust, sand and not very man trees. To receive a real, live Christmas tree and decorations will make Christmas very special for all the soldiers serving over here during the holidays.”

And so Solobay, along with Secretary Wolff, Gov. Ed Rendell, PLNA, the Pennsylvania Mushroom Growers Association, and the Pennsylvania National Guard, worked together to gather the donations.

“We hope that by sending them some Pennsylvania-grown trees, they’ll feel a little closer to home for the holidays,” said Agriculture Secretary Wolff.