Bakers, baggers deliver sweet treats to dormitory Airmen

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Amanda Delisle
  • 50th Space Wing Public Affairs
PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. (AFNS) --  Thousands of homemade cookies, candy, hot chocolate and other goodies were collected, bagged and delivered to dormitory residents Dec. 16 at Peterson Air Force Base.

Hundreds of people donated cookies and sweets, totaling more than 6,600, for nearly 400 single servicemembers of Peterson, Schriever AFB, Colo., and Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado. 

The annual Cookies for the Troops program is sponsored by the Peterson AFB Spouses' Club.

"A lot of these Airmen are young and it could be their first holiday away from their family," said Amy Wren, a Peterson AFB Spouses' Club member and cookie drive coordinator. "We need to take care of the family we've got -- our Air Force family."

Brown paper bags, decorated by local school children, families and volunteers, housed lots of baked goods and other sweets, along with a holiday card from the American Red Cross and note from the spouses' club.

The cookie drive is about more than just giving homemade goods to troops though; it's about taking care of each other.

"We want them to know we care. We're one Air Force, one team," said Master Sgt. Mary Lacombe, the 21st Space Wing career assistance adviser.

Schriever and Peterson AFB members supported the dormitory Airmen with donated oatmeal, chocolate chip, sugar, peanut butter, ginger snap and a variety of other cookies and confections. The bases' military members, along with family members, also bagged the thousands of cookies at the Peterson AFB Chapel.

The hundreds of volunteers who baked and donated the cookies and sweets helped organize, bag and deliver them, all worked together to ensure the success of the program, Mrs. Wren said.

"It's an absolutely wonderful thing to see a room full of people from the base, from first sergeants to Airmen, to help distribute cookies," said Angel Chun, a Peterson AFB Spouses' Club member and the Schriever AFB cookie drive coordinator. "They were excited and it meant something. It was a heartfelt thing to do and everyone came together."

Once all the treats were bagged, volunteers loaded them up and took them to the dormitories for delivery. Dorm managers and volunteers knocked on each military member's door to deliver the special packages and wish each a happy holiday. 

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