When our service members deploy, they sign a blank check made payable to the United States of America for an amount up to and including their lives. They endure the invisible wounds of war, combat injuries, and the heavy toll of leaving parts of themselves on foreign soil. When they return, a holiday tradition like setting up a Christmas tree with their families shouldn’t be a financial burden.
For years, The Freedom Isn’t Free Ride Foundation, founded by disabled Army combat veteran and Purple Heart recipient Russell Edgett, has stepped up to fill that gap, hosting an annual Christmas tree giveaway to provide a free tree to local veterans and active-duty personnel.
Now, that vital tradition is in jeopardy, and the foundation needs an immediate, serious hometown sponsor to step up.
The Situation
For the last two years, the event’s previous major supplier, quietly shifted from a true community sponsor to charging the foundation for the trees. This structural shift directly pulled thousands of dollars away from the foundation’s core mission—funding critical housing and emergency necessities for disabled and struggling veterans right here in Connecticut.
Worse yet, communication has completely flatlined. Despite multiple attempts by the foundation to reach their contact since December, phone calls remain unreturned. The foundation cannot, and will not, waste valuable donor funds buying retail trees when those resources belong in the hands of the service members who earned them.
Why Your Immediate Help Matters
Russell Edgett and his team run this entire non-profit out of their own pockets. They draw zero compensation. When the pandemic hit, they were on the streets at 4:30 AM feeding vulnerable veterans. When awareness flags, Russell puts his combat-injured body through grueling 60-mile walks to the State Capitol.
The annual Christmas tree giveaway isn’t just about a piece of holiday decor—it is a tangible thank you, a moment of community respect, and a financial relief mechanism for local military families during an expensive season.
We are not looking for well-wishes, empty promises, or administrative dead ends. We need a definitive, direct solution.
The Requirement: Who Can Answer the Call?
The foundation has smaller supporting sponsors, but it urgently needs a new primary tree farm or nursery sponsor willing to supply real Christmas trees for the winter 2026 giveaway event.
If you are the owner, operator, or direct decision-maker for a Connecticut-based tree farm or nursery and have the capacity to sponsor this operation, please step forward. If you personally know an owner and can facilitate a direct introduction today, make the call.
Let’s ensure that the families of those who protected our freedom don’t go without this holiday season.
How to Coordinate Direct Support
Please reach out immediately with actionable solutions only:
- Organization: The Freedom Isn’t Free Ride Foundation
- Direct Contact: Russell Edgett, Founder
- Phone: (475) 225-9694
- Location: Fairfield County / Statewide Operations, Connecticut
I am not a veteran. I am a member of the Civil Air Patrol, the United States Air Force Auxiliary. But in 1991, personal loss brought me to a place I never left.
Over two decades later, that loss led me to the State Veterans Cemetery in Middletown, Connecticut, where I took on the coordination of Wreaths Across America — which grew into the largest and fastest growing veterans program in the state. I didn’t do it for recognition. I did it for them.
In 2016 I founded the Connecticut Veterans Bulletin. Not because I served, but because I believe those who did deserve to be honored, connected, and kept alive.
Twenty-two veterans die by suicide every day. I knew about that number before it became a hashtag. I knew it personally, long before anyone was talking about it.
This publication exists because that number is unacceptable. Because every veteran in Connecticut deserves to know someone gives a damn.
That someone is me.