West Michigan farms ship 360 Christmas Trees to military bases in Kentucky, Tennessee

VAN BUREN COUNTY, MI — In 2006, on the Monday after Thanksgiving, 10 volunteers and a few staff members gathered at Wahmhoff Farms Nursery in Gobles.

A tradition was born.

That tradition was packing up Christmas trees to have delivered to military members and their families as part of the Christmas Spirit Foundation’s Trees for Troops program.

Every Monday after Thanksgiving since, more and more volunteers have joined Wahmhoff Farms employees in packing up trees so families on military bases can feel the spirit of Christmas.

This year, on Dec. 2, a record 120-plus volunteers, along with staff members and some active duty military members loaded 363 trees onto two FedEx trailers. The trees were shipped to Columbus Air Force Base in Mississippi, as well as Fort Knox and Fort Campbell in Kentucky.

The three bases are among 93 across the nation and overseas where the Trees for Troops program will provide free, farm-grown Christmas trees to U.S. armed forces members in all branches of services.

“We just want to say thank you to the troops themselves, they’re there for us, they’re keeping our country safe and we appreciate them,” said Betsy Wahmhoff Perales, executive assistant at the farm.

Wahmhoff Perales grew up in a military family, raised by an Army veteran, Carl Wahmhoff Jr.

Her grandfather Carl Wahmhoff Sr. planted the first Christmas trees at the Gobles farm in the 1950s and her father harvested them. The farm has been run by her brothers Dan and Ken Wahmhoff since 1996.

“Our family business my whole life has been Christmas trees,” she said. “And to be able to donate Christmas trees to the military families who we appreciate so much, not just because we have family members that were in the military, but because we love our country.

“These families, they are away from their homes. They are on military bases surrounded by other soldiers. And to be able to get a Christmas tree and celebrate, to me that is the Christmas spirit. It lifts you right up.”

Wahmhoff Perales said they couldn’t do this without the volunteers. Her family farm was one of five area Christmas tree farms shipping out trees on Monday morning.

Other Christmas tree farms who brought trees to Wahmhoff Farms this year included Armintrout’s Nursery, Janke Tree Farm and Badger Evergreen Nursery in Allegan, along with Circle B Tree Farm in Battle Creek.

“It’s definitely not just a Wahmhoff Farms thing, it’s a community event and it’s so cool to be a part of it,” she said.

The farm, in its 19th year of participating, is one of three across the state that serves as a pickup location for Trees for Troops. Through the first 20 years of the Trees for Troops program nationwide, more than 309,000 trees have been donated to military families, according to the Christmas Spirit Foundation website.

Each of the trees that left for Tennessee and Kentucky on Monday from Gobles also came with a handwritten tag from a Gobles Elementary School student, along with a handmade ornament from a student.

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