Operation Holiday Cheer: Long Island sends Christmas trees to troops

OCEANSIDE, N.Y. - They're back at it again. Now in its 18th year, Operation Holiday Cheer is sending trees and their trimmings to troops overseas.

"These guys provide our freedom and we have to keep supporting them," said Joey DiDominica, the co-owner of Dees' Nursery in Oceanside.

The mission is rooted deep in tradition. Christmas trees are donated by Dees' Nursery and are then delivered by DHL. They're loaded with love onto trucks then caravanned to JFK Airport. The cartons are filled with greeting cards and dozens of decorations go along for the ride.

Don Scarola's son Daniel is an active member of the U.S. Air Force. Don showed us a photo of Daniel receiving a tree — his face says it all.

"To get the trees — the smile on their face from ear to ear was unbelievable, breathtaking," Scarola said. "The memory will last forever."

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Gold Star mom Marion Zilinski shows up each year. It's the least she can do to help the troops in honor of her late son Lt. Dennis W. Zilinski II, who was killed in Iraq by a roadside bomb in 2005.

"Think about being separated from your loved ones," Zilinski said. "It's a hard thing to come by."

Trees will travel from JFK to DHL's Hub in Cincinnati and then nonstop to the Middle East. It's about a 20-hour journey. Once the trees arrive, they'll be distributed in Kuwait and Bahrain just in time for the holidays.

"When we start to get the emails and pictures back of them with their trees, it's something we carry for a lifetime," DHL Express' Cathy O'Reilly said. "You just want to keep on doing it."