Holiday Wreath Laying Ceremony at Pentagon Memorial

/PRNewswire/ -- Wreaths Across America is a non-profit organization that donates 5000+ Christmas wreaths to Arlington National Cemetery each year. This year, Ms. Kathryn Cross, a Gold Star Mother who is leading the Wreaths Across America effort, personally secured enough donated wreaths for all three of the 9/11 memorials including the Pentagon Memorial. The donation was made possible by the Worcester Wreath Company and Wal-Mart Corporation who are donating the wreaths as a gesture to honor the lives lost on September 11, 2001. The wreaths will be delivered as part of a convoy traveling to each of the three 9/11 memorials.

Wreaths Across America plans to deliver the wreaths to the Pentagon Memorial Thursday afternoon, December 10 . On Friday, December 11 at 3:00 p.m., Wreaths Across America and the Pentagon Memorial Fund will conduct a short wreath laying ceremony. Representatives of the Pentagon, Pentagon Memorial Fund and family members of the victims will be in attendance. Similar ceremonies will be taking place in New York City and Shanksville, PA on December 12th.

WHO: James J. Laychak, President of the Pentagon Memorial Fund
Morrill Worchester, Founder of Wreaths Across America

WHAT: Holiday Wreath Laying Ceremony

WHEN: Friday December 11, 2009
3:00 p.m.

WHERE: The Pentagon Memorial
South Parking Lot of the Pentagon

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MyChristmasCatalog.com to Donate Calling Cards to Active Duty Troops

(BUSINESS WIRE)--While most of us look forward to spending the holidays at home with our families, our active duty U.S. troops stationed far from home don’t have that joy. So MyChristmasCatalog.com is trying to make it a little easier for them. The nation’s largest online Christmas gift-giving store powered by the newest Microsoft Silverlight 3 technology devoted a large interactive section of the site to honor our soldiers at Christmas, and is taking ten percent of its Christmas sale proceeds to purchase one of the most requested gifts by our soldiers – pre-paid calling cards – so they can phone home and stay connected with their families.

"Having calling cards allows us to stay in contact with our family and friends back home. This helps us to have peace of mind that they are okay," said Capt. Emma Phillips, U.S. Army Reserves Company Commander for the 724th Military Battalion in Fort Lauderdale. Her office will receive and help administer distribution of the pre-paid calling card donations.

“Our military men and women are willing to sacrifice everything all year round to keep our nation safe and strong,” said Jerrold Burden, creator of MyChristmasCatalog.com and Chairman of Fort Lauderdale-based Catalog Enterprises, Inc. “We wanted to do what we could to show them thanks.”

Burden, an Army veteran, designed part of the site to allow the public and online shoppers to view heartfelt Christmas videos, poems and photo albums of our troops overseas, send soldiers free e-cards directly from the site, get the latest news from Iraq and make donations to purchase more calling cards for troops. Visitors can also find links to organizations that assist veterans, honor the Fallen, and help children of fallen soldiers.

“We want to make America aware by embracing our troops this holiday season and sharing the memories, tears, heartache and heroism,” said Burden.

Catalog Enterprises was selected by Microsoft early this year as the fourth company in the nation to become a Microsoft Partner utilizing the new Silverlight 3 software to develop award-winning websites. The newly launched MyChristmasCatalog.com is among the first sites to show off this revolutionary technology in ways to delight visitors.

To first access MyChristmasCatalog.com, with it’s brand new Microsoft technology, visitors are offered a quick and free download that opens the door to an easy, user-friendly format they’ve probably never experienced. The site helps visitors choose the most popular and unique gifts at the lowest prices for every age and gender. It has more than 18,000 products to choose from, including those from dozens of affiliate retailers like Macy’s, Target, Radio Shack, Barnes & Noble and Walmart. Once a gift is found, customers can click again to find the current lowest price among the affiliate retailers for that item before making their purchase online.

“We worked hard to make a magical, mystical wonderland of holiday shopping all in one place by creating a truly unique and entertaining site for the whole family,” said Burden. Not only can you shop on the site, but also visitors can enjoy hours of free fun. You can play online Christmas games and Christmas music, have animated Christmas stories read to you and your children, watch classic cartoons, enjoy an online holiday recipe book, send letters to Santa and check his flight track on Norad, view photos of Manhattan’s most famous retail Christmas windows, check out Sears and Spiegel holiday catalog flipbooks from the 30s and 40s, and much more.

For more information on Catalog Enterprises, Inc. and MyChristmasCatalog.com, visit our websites at www.MyChristmasCatalog.com and www.CatalogEnterprises.co.

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FedEx Delivers Holiday Cheer to U.S. Armed Services Members and Their Families

(BUSINESS WIRE)--For the fifth consecutive year, FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) and the Christmas SPIRIT Foundation are teaming up for Trees for Troops, a program created to deliver support and cheer to members of the military and their families during the holiday season. Throughout this holiday season, Trees for Troops will deliver approximately 16,000 real Christmas trees to more than 50 military facilities in the United States and overseas.

“FedEx and its team members are pleased to support Trees for Troops, delivering holiday cheer to military men, women and families,” said Douglas G. Duncan, president and CEO, FedEx Freight. “Now in its fifth year, this program provides us the opportunity to say thanks to those who serve our country in the Armed Forces.”

This year’s Trees for Troops campaign will kick off Nov. 10 in Columbus, Ohio, with the pickup of approximately 200 trees to be delivered to service members stationed in Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan via the FedEx Express hub in Indianapolis.

A second international shipment of nearly 100 trees will also depart from Indianapolis on Nov. 24 for service members stationed in Bahrain, aboard vessels of the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, and other locations.

“The FedEx team considers it a privilege to help coordinate Trees for Troops,” said Stan Bradford, freight flow analyst for FedEx Freight who assists with planning the tree pickup and distribution logistics for the program. “As an Army veteran, I am glad that FedEx is taking this step to support these very deserving men, women and families.”

Since 2005, the first year for the Trees for Troops program, the effort has quadrupled in size and donations. Some program milestones include:

* In the program’s first year, 4,300 trees were delivered to troops and military families at five bases in the U.S. and overseas
* More than 50,000 real Christmas trees have been distributed to families in every branch of the military at 40-plus bases in 17 countries.
* More than 750 tree growers in 29 states have donated trees
* FedEx Freight trucks have traveled an estimated 150,000 over-the-road miles to pick up and deliver the trees

Throughout November, National Christmas Tree Association (NCTA) members around the country will donate trees, and FedEx will provide transportation and logistical services to the Christmas SPIRIT Foundation, the NCTA's philanthropic branch. Both FedEx Express air operations and FedEx Freight’s trucking networks will play a role in the Trees for Troops program, delivering donated trees to military bases throughout the U.S.

The public will also have the opportunity to participate in Trees for Troops by purchasing trees and attaching a personal message at 40 retail locations nationally. These trees will be included in the Trees for Troops delivery schedule, which begins Nov. 30 and concludes Dec. 11. For a list of participating Trees for Troops retail locations, please visit www.treesfortroops.org.

Trees for Troops is a part of FedEx Special Delivery, a nationwide program that supports local organizations by donating transportation services and manpower to help them fulfill their missions. For more information about FedEx Special Delivery and FedEx during the peak holiday season, please visit http://news.fedex.com.

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Military Support Organization Reaches for Christmas Miracle

/PRNewswire/ -- For the last two years, James Ward and his family have sent a bit of Christmas cheer to deployed American service members in Iraq and Afghanistan through Operation Christmas Tree, but this year that could change. Last year they sent 5,000 live Christmas trees. Now a goal of 2,000 may be out of reach, even with the efforts of fellow military support organization Soldiers' Angels, which contributed $2,000 to the cause yesterday.

In years past, the spirits of soldiers deployed during the Holidays have been buoyed by an extraordinary gift--a live Christmas tree complete with tiny ornaments and lights from Operation Christmas Tree. One soldier wrote, "I couldn't believe what I found in that little box. Wow. And it even smells a little like a Christmas tree!" Another exclaimed, "I am so moved and filled with joy. Thank you multiplied by a billion isn't enough for this simple act of kindness."

The recession has hit Operation Christmas Tree hard, with only five percent of the donations coming in that they've had in the past. "If we can't bring in more, there will be no trees going out this year," reports Ward, with a catch in his voice. "But I have faith that Americans will come though once again. Last year we got our last $10,000 needed on the day we packed the trees!"

Soldiers' Angels is calling on other organizations, companies and individuals to make sure that once again this year, deployed servicemen and women will have the experience of opening up a box in the sands of Iraq or the mountains of Afghanistan and finding a piece of Christmas inside. Says founder Patti Patton-Bader, "When our heroes are serving in dangerous places far from home on our behalf at Christmas, we owe them so much. A piece of home like this is a treasure."

Established in 2003, Soldiers' Angels is a volunteer-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit providing aid and comfort to the United States Army, Marines, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard, veterans and military families. For more info, see www.soldiersangels.org or call (615) 676-0239. Tax ID# 20-0583415

Operation Christmas Tree is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with a singular mission: sending live Christmas Trees to the deployed "until our troops are home." For more info, see www.operationchristmastree.com or call 410-984-7300. Tax ID# 84-1722360.

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Dave Niebes Participates in The Wreaths Across America Program

The Wreaths Across America program is sponsored annually by the Worcester Wreath Company of Harrington, Maine involving thousands of Christmas wreaths that are donated for placement at Arlington National Cemetery and other military cemeteries across America.

Dave Niebes represented Fayette County (Georgia) Post 105 of The American Legion at Arlington National Cemetery again this year.

He is shown at the grave of Seaman First Class William E. Harris, a World War I Navy veteran from Georgia

During a special ceremony, Christmas wreaths were also placed at the Tomb of the Unknowns.

Note: Wreaths Across America was featured on Fox News Sunday 12/14/08. During the program the owner of the Worcester Wreath Company stated he would like to expand the program to include the placement of wreaths on veterans graves across the country.

This video tells more about the current project. We invite you to find out more and join in the effort:

Each year Worcester Wreath Company donates 5000 wreaths to be placed on the graves at Arlington National Cemetery to honor our Veterans during the holidays. This video was put together by the folks at Worcester Wreath, and President Morrill Worcester - to show why they do it. With images of Arlington, family and friends - this is one visual way of saying thank you - to those who serve, to those we've lost, and to those who made the ultimate sacrifice so that we can enjoy the freedoms of this Country.