Operation Cookie

This past Christmas American Legion George J. Morin Post #183 Shirley, MA sponsored a Support Our Troops project in hope that some of our troops would have a brighter Christmas. Our Post has several soldiers in Iraq so naturally we adopted their unit, H Company of the Georgia National Guard. Mary Ellen Jones coined the phrase 'Operation Cookie' based on the goal of sending 171 dozen cookies. However, the cookie baking was so successful the actual number was closer to 500 dozen! In addition to the cookies we put together boxes of goods including phone cards, worth worth over $3,000 (it took over 600 hours of people like Legionnaire Ed Warwick of Shirley to raise this amount of money). The logistics of assembling, packing, shipping and delivery of 33 large boxes (they filled up a full sized pickup truck - thank you Sam Holmes) was no small task and the staging took most of the lower level of the War Memorial Building.

So why are we so late in sending out this information when Christmas passed us by more than a month ago? We have been silent about this issue because we considered the mission not completed until the packages were received by the troops. The boxes were shipped on December 4 but only the Christmas cards made by the Shirley Middle School (SMS) students actually arrived in time. The good news was that this box was the most precious as it contained not only the handmade SMS student Christmas cards it also contained St. Michael pendants and prayer cards provided by St. Anthony's. Sgt. Mayer emailed me this: "I passed out most of the Prayer cards and pennants. St. Micheal is the patron saint to the airborne, so those were hot items." Somehow the St. Anthony person(s) who donated the St. Michael medals knew this?

About half of the boxes arrived January 11 but it wasn't until January 23 that the complete shipment arrived at camp in northern Iraq. These guys are so remote that they receive mail at best twice a week.

So what did we ship? In addition to 500 dozen of home baked cookies we sent 171 200 minute calling cards. That is 34,200 minutes of phone time! We also sent huge amounts of Pringles, Slim Jims, unscented baby wipes, chap sticks, powdered drink mixes, candy, sugarless gum and other items.

Now it is finally time to acknowledge all who made this event a success, again completed 1/23/07. So many put so much effort into this I hope nobody is left out.

Post #183 Legion Commander Michael Flood Joe Landry assembled and taped all of the boxes.
Unit #183 Auxiliary President Andrea Grafton, Ursula Goodman, Flo Neumyer, Sue Flood, Elaine DeCell, Robbi Orr, Beth Grant, Barbara Minezzi, Louise Minalga, Kellie Faverau
Squadron #183 Commander Ed Neumyer

Pamela/Warren Bisson - packing and donations
Marquetta Boone (Georgia) - cookies
Bryan* and Kendra Dumont - packing and donations (see Byran's mission to source over 34,000 minutes of phone cards below!
Jon Grafton - packing and donations
Sherrie Hanson - donations, packing (Sherrie tirelessly campaigned at several companies for donations)
Kevin and Laurie Hayes - donations and packing
Sam Holmes - Sam picked up and shipped everything. By far this was the biggest task
Andrea and Jose Orellana, Gardner - cookies
Carl & Doris Proia, Tewksbury - Donations
Peg Steele - donations and packing
Rhonda Trobaugh - donations
Donna Vaira
Louisa Vaira - cookies

BJ's
Custom Courier - cookies, chips and powdered drink mix
CVS - Disposable cameras, Kathy McDonough
Hannafords-Lunnenburg
HUB International New England - Wilmington Office donations R. Murphy Co. - over 300 boxes, many specialized
Roche Brothers Supermarkets - donations
St. Anthony's church - St. Michael medals (the hottest item) and prayer cards.
Shirley Middle School (grades 5-8) Ruthann Goguen, Principal - handmade Christmas Cards
Walmart - Lunenburg
Keller Williams: Jim Lucchesi and team donated over 1000 Slim Jims, cookies and other items

*Note about Bryan Dumont. In addition to the help with the cookies, goods, and packing, Byran obtained the phone cards which sounds like an easy task. When we were ready to buy the phone cards, we contacted the Army & Air Force Exchange Services (AAFES) and were shocked to find out that the well had dried up and almost none were available. The quantity (171) we needed and the 200 minute card specification required us to deal with bulk sales. We discovered that supplier AT&T was replacing the program with a new one and thus they were not issuing any additional cards. We called all local AAFES stores and struggled to find an appreciable amount of cards. Then we contacted Bryan. He made contacts as far as West Point New York and drove to Westover AFB in order to get us the cards. I can't estimate the amount of time he spent on obtaining the phone cards for us. Without bryan Company H would not have the 34,200 minutes to call home and talk to their loved ones.

Most important is this letter we received today (2/1/07) from the Commander of the Task Force. Please read the letter as it is really addressed to everyone who was part of this effort.

 I am Major Thomas Burket, Commander of Task Force Spectre of which H Company, 121st Infantry (Airborne)(Long Range Surveillance), Georgia Army National Guard is a critical component.

 It has been brought to my attention that you, American Legion Post 183, and Shirley Middle School recently sent 33 care packages to the Soldiers of the task force during the recent holiday period.  I would like to personally thank you and the other contributors for their support of the Soldiers during the holidays when each and every one of us would prefer to be with our loved ones and families. The packages were well received and much appreciated.

 The task force is conducting security operations in Northern Iraq and have made significant inroads to provide stability and security to the Government and people of Iraq. The Soldiers are nearing the halfway point and are looking forward to the downhill slide towards coming home.

 Again, thank you for the contributions to the morale and well-being of our nation's service members during this conflict. Your actions and those of the Legion and Shirley Middle School demonstrate that Americans truly care for and support the American Soldier.

 I have attached a photo of the task force taken before H Company deployed to conduct operations over Christmas.  The Soldiers preferred to be busy during the holiday than sit on the basecamp.

Sincerely,

Tom Burket

THOMAS F. BURKET
MAJ,MI
United States Army