The Chicago Christmas Tree Ship ar- rived on December 1, 2017. It's that time of the year again, when the crew of the Mackinaw joins the Chicago's Christmas Tree Ship com- mittee to reenact a tradition dating back to the late 1800's. The origi- nal ship, the Rouse Simmons, would travel from northern Michigan to Chicago with trees and wreaths for needy families. On November 23, 1912, the ship sank in Lake Michigan, off of Two Rivers, WI. during a storm. The tra- dition was reestablished in 2000 when the United States Coast Guard partnered with Chicago's maritime community. The Mackinaw arrived at Chicago's Navy pier with 1,200 trees from northern Michigan. Chicago's Own Young Marines with other youth groups volunteered to unload trees from the ship to trucks. The trees will be distributed to orga- nizations selected by the committee for needy families. And MERRY CHRISTMAS! --Submitted by Leonard Jakubiak, Unit Commander, Chicago's Own (IL) Young Marines Chicago’s Own: Celebrating a Great Lakes Holiday Maritime Tradition By YM/Cpl Jaelen R. Bobo Miami Valley (OH) Starting at 2000 on Friday November 3rd, a group of Miami Valley Young Marines set out on a 24-hour charity adventure! We participated in a live video gaming stream in support of Extra Life at our local gaming café, Clarkade. For those who may not be familiar, Extra-Life is a nationwide effort by gamers to raise mon- ey for local children’s hospitals, by community outreach and live streaming games. I learned about this cause at a local game convention. After research on extra-life.org, I brought the idea to my Unit Commander, who reluctantly agreed. He eventually admitted (after some coaxing) it would be a great event for our unit to take part in. We chose to play in support of Dayton Chil- dren’s Hospital, with a goal of $2,500. Unfor- tunately we feel short of our goal, raising a total of $1,447. While the Young Marines involved did enjoy the event,there are some changes I would like to make next year to make it even better. This includes seeking out and challenging other Young Marine units to take part in it with us! For more information, check out their web- site, and feel free to register your unit for the Young Marines team. Who doesn’t love earning community service hours, helping sick and injured youth, all while being in a video game lock-in? Miami Valley: Twenty Four Hours of Video Games,All for a Great Cause 8 YOUNG MARINES ESPRIT ONLINE MY YM UNIT