Local NY National Guard volunteers assist with Trees for Troops Loadout on Monday, December 1
Media Advisory
BALLSTON SPA, N.Y. (11/28/2025) — Volunteers from the New York Army National Guard are expected to join with Capital District area veterans at Ellms Tree Farm in Ballston Spa, N.Y. on Monday, December 1, 2025 to help load about 125 Christmas trees being donated and sent to military bases around the country to support troops and military families this holiday season.
This marks the 21st year of military members volunteering their time to assist in the loading of trees destined for fellow service members and their families around the country and around the world.
WHO: Soldiers from the New York National Guard volunteer their time from work to assist the loadout of holiday trees at Ellms Tree Farm for Trees for Troops.
WHAT: Loading of about 125 Christmas Trees on Fed Ex trucks for the "Trees for Troops" Program
WHEN: 9 a.m. Monday, December 1.
WHERE: Ellms Family Tree Farm, 468 Charlton Road, Ballston Spa, N.Y., 12020
Coverage Opportunity:
Video and images of the volunteers loading trees into the FedEx truck. There will be opportunities to speak with Sally, Chip and Garth Ellms, local veterans and National Guard volunteers.
Additional Information:
This year marks the 21st season that Trees for Troops will be loaded at Ellms Tree Farm.
Last year, they picked up 16,629 trees from 51 different locations and delivered them to 93 bases in the U.S. across five branches of service.
In 2025, trees will be delivered to Fort Drum, West Point, the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station and the U.S. Coast Guard Sector in New York City, along with 88 other military sites around the country.
Since 2005, Trees for Troops has provided 326,273 Christmas Trees to military families and troops in the United States and overseas.
Supporting elements this year are expected to include the Association of the United States Army and the Jewish War Veterans.
The Trees for Troops program was launched in 2005, and with the help of FedEx Corp., delivered more than 4,300 Christmas Trees to five U.S. military bases in its initial year, as well as an overseas shipment to the Middle East that year. More information is also available at www.TreesforTroops.org.
Fresh cut Christmas trees are gathered at farm and retail lots before being picked up by Trees for Troops partners, FedEx Freight, and routed through distribution centers for delivery to bases.
Once trees arrive at a base and are unloaded, each base determines how/when to distribute the trees to their personnel.
Volunteers from the National Guard have supported the loading of trees to mark their individual support of the program for fellow Soldiers and Airmen serving overseas.
This year, Soldiers of the New York Army National Guard's 42nd Infantry Division Headquarters, based in Troy, are deployed in the Middle East and members of the Air National Guard's 109th Airlift Wing in Scotia remain deployed over the holidays each year in support of Operation Deep Freeze, the National Science Foundation support to research in Antarctica.
For more information about the program, contact Sally Ellms at 518-339-6333 or sallydellms@gmail.com.
Media Attachments
New York Army National Guard Master Sgt. Derrick Zwack lifts a donated Christmas Tree from a volunteer during the annual Trees for Troops loadout at Ellms Tree Farm in Ballston Spa, New York on Dec. 2, 2024. Tree farmers from New York’s capital and Saratoga regions, donated 125 trees to be sent to military bases for the holidays. New York National Guard Soldiers and local veterans volunteered to help load the trees on board the Fedex delivery truck.
New York National Guard
Lt. Col. Jean Kratzer, 518-786-4581Share this Story
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