By the Hands, Benton House, and Ada S. McKinley helped with distribution.

Over 300 youth volunteers from all over the Chicago-area faced 10-degree weather at 9 a.m. Saturday as they stood in a line snaking down Navy Pier to help load Christmas trees into waiting trucks.

“It’s something small that has a huge impact,” Samantha Martin, a student from College Jones Preparatory High School, said. “Everyone should have a Christmas tree.”

Over 1,200 trees were loaded onto waiting trucks Saturday morning at Navy Pier to be delivered later in the day to deserving families across the Chicago area. These Christmas trees were delivered on Friday by the US Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw also known as the Christmas Tree Ship, and were honored this morning during a brief ceremony at 10 a.m.

“It’s great to be Captain Santa for a few days,” Michael Davanzo, commanding officer of the US Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw, said. “Perhaps, it is the magic of a Christmas tree that brings out the best in everyone. It’s an honor to continue Capt. Schuenamann’s legacy.”

The ceremony began after the trucks were loaded, a process that took over two hours, with the Taft High School Choir singing a host of songs and Lee Murdock performing his song “When the Big Mac comes to this harbor.”

Fr. Dan Brandt, director of the Police Chaplains Ministry, blessed a wreath to remember the lives lost on the Rouse Simmons, the original Christmas Tree Ship that sunk 101 years ago. The wreath was then placed on the Captain of the Helm Statue by Capt. Dave Truitt, founding member of the Christmas Tree Ship Committee.

The Chicago Fire Department Rescue Helicopter concluded the memorial ceremony by dropping a wreath into Lake Michigan.

Lloyd Karzen, chair of executive Christmas committee, presented a tree and stand to one of the deserving families on behalf of the US Coast Guard to signify the start of the deliveries following four speeches from special guests.

Capt. Davanzo, commanding officer of the US Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw, said the whole event was the “magic of Christmas” from his crew loading the Christmas trees, to the volunteers working tirelessly to “make a Christmas miracle” happen for needy families in the Chicago area.

A canon sounded off at the end of the ceremony, and the first official truck was sent off to the sound of Mackinaw’s horn to make the first batch of Christmas tree deliveries.

“While raising our two boys, the Christmas tree has always been a symbol of the season and the joy that it brings,” Capt. Matthew Sibley said. “Putting up the Christmas tree has always seemed to transform our house into a home.”

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