Bakers, get ready: 17th annual donation event set for Dec. 6

  • Published
  • By Amy Rollins
  • Skywrighter Staff

 WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio -- Cookie and brownie bakers who have a soft spot in their hearts for some 2,000 hungry unaccompanied Airmen at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base will want to note Dec. 6 on their calendars. That’s when the 17th annual Airmen’s Holiday Cookie Drive at Wright-Patt has been set to take place from 6 a.m. to noon at the USO Community Center, Bldg. 1222, Kittyhawk Center, Area A.

There are, however, multiple curbside drop-off locations for cookie donors’ convenience that day from 7 to 9 a.m.:

■ USO Community Center

■ Chapel 1 near the Prairies, Bldg. 6568, 682 Chapel Lane, Area B

■ National Air and Space Intelligence Center, Bldg. 828, Area A, inside the main building’s main door, near the Starbucks

■ Wright Field Fitness Center, Area B, 6 to 8 a.m.

Donation pledges should be emailed to Wrightpattcookies@yahoo.com. Any questions or offers to volunteer to box cookies can also be directed to this email address.

Bakers are asked to label their cookie donations if they contain “no nuts” or “no gluten” so they can be included in the boxes for those Airmen with specific allergies. All donations should be delivered in disposable packaging.

Kindra McPhail, president of the Wright-Patterson Enlisted Spouses’ Club and one of the cookie drive’s points of contact, said more than 25,000 cookies were donated last year, and so far 6,288 cookies have been pledged this year.

The sweet goods are eagerly awaited by their recipients, she said. Each Airman receives one dozen cookies, placed on his or her bed by a first sergeant.

“A lot of Airmen can’t afford to go back home for the holidays so we like to provide a little bit of holiday cheer for them,” McPhail said. “We call it, ‘a taste of home,’ and we hope it brings a bit of holiday experience to them since they are not able to be with their families.”

First responders from the 88th Security Forces Squadron and the Wright-Patterson Fire Department also benefit from the holiday cookie drive.

“Thank you in advance to everyone who helps with this project,” McPhail said. “We appreciate it very much.”

This event is sponsored by the Wright-Patterson Enlisted Spouses’ Club, Wright-Patterson Officers’ Spouses’ Club, First Command, First Sergeants Council, United Service Organization of Central and Southern Ohio and the City of Fairborn.