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Donating holiday cheer: Project gives tree to Ft. Carson soldiers

The Christmas Tree Project has around 400 requests from military members, veterans
Donating holiday cheer: Project gives tree to Ft. Carson soldiers
Posted at 2:06 AM, Dec 12, 2020
and last updated 2020-12-12 13:55:34-05

COLORADO SPRINGS — During a year that's changed almost everything about our lives, the normalcy and nostalgia of holiday decorations are a sight for sore eyes, especially for people who have decided to stay home and may miss their family.

A local agency is hoping to help, by donating hundreds of Christmas trees. The Christmas Tree Project gives away anywhere from 300-1,000 trees a year.

Now in it's eleventh year, the project works through community donations, with people going online to request a tree. "This year, we've gotten almost 400 requests from around the country from military. I mean a few of them, we have a 97 year old WWII vet that wants a tree. We've got a Navy vet, he's actually in hospice, it will be his last tree," said David Fein of The Christmas Tree Project.

Fein said they always have a large amount of military or veteran requests, and they put those at the top of the list. "It's a little bit tough reading through all of those requests knowing that we can't help all of them, but it absolutely is a great thing to help people who have helped us," said Fein.

On Friday, a tree was picked up for local soldiers. "We've got a tree that was donated to us to take to one of our barracks which houses about 130 single soldiers, and we're hoping that we can bring a little bit of holiday cheer to those soldiers that normally wouldn't go home, but even with COVID, has more restrictions on us traveling," said Sgt. Litton Battelini, the command family readiness representative.

Saturday is a big day for The Christmas Tree Project, as they turn their parking lot into a "tree lot," where cars can drive through and pick their tree. The event is already pretty full, but you can still request a tree by CLICKING HERE.