REMINDER/Media Alert: Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw, Gives Trees to Children of Families in Need; Saturday, December 6, 9:15 a.m.

Assignment Desks

REMINDER...for Saturday (Dec. 6)

--(BUSINESS WIRE)

National Marine Manufacturers Association:

WHO:    The Coast Guard Cutter, Mackinaw, the unified marine community
        of Chicago and independent charitable organizations have
        joined forces to make Christmas special for over 1000 children
        of families in need.

WHAT:   U. S. Coast Guard Helicopter drops wreath 50 yards from USCGC
        Mackinaw in memory of the Christmas Tree Ship and all the
        ships and crews that have been lost at sea. USCGC Mackinaw and
        Chicago's Christmas Tree Committee distribute 1000 trees to
        children of families in need.

WHEN:   Saturday, December 6
        9-10am

        9:00am - USCGC MACKINAW commences unloading trees from Cutter
        under direction of the Ship's Captain, Commander Joseph
        McGuiness.

        9:15 am - Coast Guard Helicopter drops wreath. Presentation of
        Colors: General Colin Powell Division Color Guard, U.S. Naval
        Sea Cadet Corps.

        9:30am - Captain Walter "Sonny" Lisowski, Chairman of
        Chicago's Christmas Tree Committee presents trees to three
        representative families.

        9:45 - Trucks depart with 1000 trees

WHERE:  Entrance to Navy Pier , Chicago, IL
        Next to the Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw

WHY:    In the early 1900's, many ships brought Christmas trees to
        Chicago from Michigan and Wisconsin and sold them to local
        merchants and grocers. Captain Hermann Schuenemann sold his
        trees directly to the public from the deck of his ship. The
        low prices and novelty of buying trees from the deck helped
        business boom over the next 16 years.

        In 1912, Captain Schuenemann and his ship never arrived. The
        men on U.S. Lifesaving Station Two Rivers reported seeing the
        three-masted schooner struggling to stay afloat with her
        distress flags flying, decks completely iced over. The
        station's surfmen attempted a rescue, getting to within a
        couple hundred yards of the ship before a blinding snow squall
        swallowed the ship and her crew. The US Coast Guard and the
        marine community are rekindling the tradition of the Christmas
        Tree ship.

        Free public tours of the Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw
        Saturday, December 6- 1:30pm - 5:00pm
        Sunday, December 7th , 1:30pm-3:00pm