thedrifter
12-16-08, 07:39 AM
Tiny trees bring joy to troops overseas
Published Tue, Dec 16, 2008 12:00 AM
By PATRICK DONOHUE
pdonohue@beaufortgazette.com
843-986-5531
Little Christmas trees sent by the wife of a Parris Island Marine have lifted the spirits of troops not able to be home for the holidays.
Hala Harper, 24, a stay-at-home mother of two, is the face behind Operation Joy for Troops, a nonprofit organization that plans to send more than 1,200 decorated Christmas trees to soldiers deployed overseas this year.
The program began in 2006 with a single tree and has sent nearly 2,000 of the 1-foot trees abroad the past two years.
Harper's husband David, 25, an electronics maintenance technician at
Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris
Island, was deployed to Fallujah in 2006 and was expected to miss their daughter, Delanna's, first Christmas.
"Delanna was about 61/2 months old and (David) was going to miss all of that early stuff with her -- the walking, the rolling -- and he was going to miss her first Christmas," she said.
"I wanted, someway, somehow, to make him feel like he was part of everything. So I got him a little tree, and I decorated it and put a picture of us in there and sent it to him."
The reaction David Harper received from the Marines in his unit proved to be the genesis of Operation Joy for Troops.
"He got it and called me, and said, 'I love the tree, and so does everyone else,' " she said. "They were wondering why his wife didn't make them one, too, or tell their wives what I was doing. When I got that kind of response, I knew what I wanted to do."
The following Christmas, with the help of her father,
Kamal Dides, who owns a Christmas decorating business in Bradenton, Fla., Harper started Operation Joy for Troops.
Using $65 in donations per tree to cover the cost of materials, boxing and shipping, Harper managed to send more than 700 trees to troops overseas in the organization's first year.
The donations received ensure that there is no cost for the tree incurred by the military families, Harper said.
The family requests a tree for the servicemember and then provides a picture to be placed atop the tree, in a frame also provided by the organization. Each tree has battery-powered lights.
This year, Harper ordered 1,500 Christmas trees, of which about 1,200 were decorated and shipped to troops abroad from Dides' business in Florida. The Harpers lived in Florida before David's assignment to Parris Island earlier this year.
Despite raising two young children -- Delanna, now 2, and 4 1/2-month-old Alyssa -- Harper said she's determined to grow her fledgling nonprofit.
"I told myself when I started this that I would do it every year until they're all home," she said. "We'll send them to Iraq, Afghanistan, Okinawa, anywhere there is a solider that can't be home for Christmas."
Ellie
Published Tue, Dec 16, 2008 12:00 AM
By PATRICK DONOHUE
pdonohue@beaufortgazette.com
843-986-5531
Little Christmas trees sent by the wife of a Parris Island Marine have lifted the spirits of troops not able to be home for the holidays.
Hala Harper, 24, a stay-at-home mother of two, is the face behind Operation Joy for Troops, a nonprofit organization that plans to send more than 1,200 decorated Christmas trees to soldiers deployed overseas this year.
The program began in 2006 with a single tree and has sent nearly 2,000 of the 1-foot trees abroad the past two years.
Harper's husband David, 25, an electronics maintenance technician at
Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris
Island, was deployed to Fallujah in 2006 and was expected to miss their daughter, Delanna's, first Christmas.
"Delanna was about 61/2 months old and (David) was going to miss all of that early stuff with her -- the walking, the rolling -- and he was going to miss her first Christmas," she said.
"I wanted, someway, somehow, to make him feel like he was part of everything. So I got him a little tree, and I decorated it and put a picture of us in there and sent it to him."
The reaction David Harper received from the Marines in his unit proved to be the genesis of Operation Joy for Troops.
"He got it and called me, and said, 'I love the tree, and so does everyone else,' " she said. "They were wondering why his wife didn't make them one, too, or tell their wives what I was doing. When I got that kind of response, I knew what I wanted to do."
The following Christmas, with the help of her father,
Kamal Dides, who owns a Christmas decorating business in Bradenton, Fla., Harper started Operation Joy for Troops.
Using $65 in donations per tree to cover the cost of materials, boxing and shipping, Harper managed to send more than 700 trees to troops overseas in the organization's first year.
The donations received ensure that there is no cost for the tree incurred by the military families, Harper said.
The family requests a tree for the servicemember and then provides a picture to be placed atop the tree, in a frame also provided by the organization. Each tree has battery-powered lights.
This year, Harper ordered 1,500 Christmas trees, of which about 1,200 were decorated and shipped to troops abroad from Dides' business in Florida. The Harpers lived in Florida before David's assignment to Parris Island earlier this year.
Despite raising two young children -- Delanna, now 2, and 4 1/2-month-old Alyssa -- Harper said she's determined to grow her fledgling nonprofit.
"I told myself when I started this that I would do it every year until they're all home," she said. "We'll send them to Iraq, Afghanistan, Okinawa, anywhere there is a solider that can't be home for Christmas."
Ellie