FedEx Brings Trees of Great Joy to U.S. Troops

This year, FedEx (NYSE:FDX) expects to deliver a record 290 million packages between Black Friday and Christmas Eve.

The company also plans to deliver some 17,000 trees to more than 60 military bases around the world during the busy weeks leading up to Christmas through the Trees for Troops program.

"Delivering Christmas trees to our troops is one of our most treasured holiday traditions," FedEx Freight President and CEO Bill Logue said in a statement. "We are very proud to leverage our logistics network through this program to honor and give back to America's servicemen and women."

This year marks the tenth anniversary of the Trees for Troops program through which FedEx, in partnership with the Christmas SPIRIT Foundation and tree farmers across North America, helps make the season a little merrier for service members and their families.

"[It] helps ensure military families have the kind of joyful, traditional Christmas memories that we would wish for America's heroes," Nigel Manley, Christmas SPIRIT Foundation chairman, said.

As part of the initiative, Americans are invited to purchase trees to donate alongside the ones given by the National Christmas Tree Association (NCTA). During Thanksgiving, Trees for Troops had Americans send digital messages of cheer to the troops by tweeting using the hashtag #TreesforTroops. Select tweets were included on tags attached to the live trees.

There are almost 15,000 farms in the U.S. growing Christmas trees, employing over 100,000 full or part-time, according to the NCTA. Each year, as many as 30 million real Christmas trees are sold in the country. Since the Trees for Troops program launched in 2005, FedEx has shipped nearly 140,000 Christmas trees, all originating from a North American farm.