Monday, November 12, 2012
Volunteers assembled nearly 2,600 miniature Christmas trees to send to troops serving overseas this holiday season.
While Veterans Day is usually the one day of rest before Trees From Home sends thousands of miniature Christmas Trees to troops overseas, this year was a different story. With so many last-minute requests coming in from other military commanders, John Stulmacher said he just couldn't say no. "It’s a no-brainer, you just have to work harder," Stulmacher said. Instead of spending Veterans Day together with his mom, Julie Stulmacher, John worked to raise more money for the trees at his legion post while Julie was crafting more last-minute trees. "The calls came in late to go over the goal, so yesterday we actually ended up having an emergency crafting workshop," John said. "It’s usually the rest day before the big day today." This year's …
Friday, September 14, 2012
Local students helped decorate miniature Christmas trees to send to military troops overseas.
Christmas tunes play in the background during a sunny, 70-degree September day. At St. John Lutheran School, older students help the younger ones hot-glue decorations to miniature Christmas trees that will be sent off around Veteran's Day to brighten up the holidays for troops overseas. John Stuhlmacher, owner of Winkie's in Whitefish Bay, said this project began when he was deployed in Baghdad when his mom, Julie, sent over a tree. "Where we were, everything was just tan," he said. "So, to have something this colorful just show up and be Christmasy, it was a nice little piece of home when you couldn't be there. When we went back to our little rooms, it was like being back home almost." Julie Stuhlmacher, John's mother, sent him an 18-…
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St. John's Lutheran School
7877 N Port Washington Rd, Fox Point, WI
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Thursday, November 10, 2011
Trees From Home is about $3,000 short of their goal to send packages to troops this Christmas.
- VOLUNTEERS IN THE NEWS
- Rory Linnane
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Thursday, November 10, 2011
The mini pine trees come in a big knot, all squished together. On the top floor of Winkies, Julie Stuhlmacher detangles one and fluffs it into shape. She cuts a skirt from fabric, adds 20 ornaments to the small branches, and places a star on top. The tree goes into a plastic bag, and into a cardboard box. Soon it will board a plane bound for an anonymous U.S. soldier stationed somewhere halfway around the world. With the help of hundreds of volunteers and donors, Stuhlmacher hopes troops will receive 2,500 such trees this holiday season, reminding them that they are appreciated back home. The local non-profit, Trees From Home, was about $3,000 short of their $47,000 goal Wednesday, making them about 300 trees short of their goal of 2,500. …
