Wright-Patt tradition continues in a new location

  • Published
  • By Amy Rollins
  • Skywrighter Staff
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB, Ohio --  Unaccompanied Airmen at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base are once again munching on holiday cookies this week, but the behind-the-scenes work to put together the hundreds of boxes of baked goodies took place in a new location with two new sponsors.

For 12 years, the annual Airmen's Holiday Cookie Drive for unaccompanied Airmen has been held the Tuesday following Thanksgiving, with volunteers baking, dropping off and packaging thousands of holiday-themed cookies into boxes destined for hungry -- and grateful -- Airmen.

For years, the assembling of the boxes was held at the former Community and Family Center, Bldg. 230, Area A. With its closure, the holiday tradition was moved this year to the Community and Airmen Center (CAC), Bldg. 1222, Kittyhawk Center.

That's not all that's new this year. Two new sponsors -- the Miami Valley Military Association and Kroger -- stepped up to support the event and underwrite part of the expense of the boxes themselves.

Coordinated by the WPAFB Officers' Spouses' Club, Spouses-in-Action and two base agencies, the CAC and the Airman and Family Readiness Center, the cookies "are a little piece of home," said Felicia Davis, cookie drive chair and a member of Spouses-in-Action.

She and a team of volunteers assembled the boxes at the CAC Nov. 27 where cookies were dropped off by caring bakers. Bakers also had the option of dropping off cookies at Chapel 1 if that location was more convenient. Introduced last year, gluten-free cookies were available, as were cookies with no nuts.

The group was hoping to get enough cookies to feed up to 1,000 Airmen, with 18 to 20 cookies per box. The number of unaccompanied Airmen is lower this year, due to an increased number of marriages.

"From what I'm being told, everyone is getting married," Mrs. Davis chortled.

First sergeants picked up the cookies the day after assembly and usually deliver them by the end of the week.

Social media was utilized more fully this year to create awareness of the event and recruit both the cookie and volunteer pools.

For the second time, requests for cookies were made to employees from the Air Force Research Laboratory and Air Force Institute of Technology, Mrs. Davis said, and, of course, the 88th Air Base Wing and the 445th Airlift Wing participated.

The Marine unit at Wright-Patt also stepped up its assistance, too. The cookie drive organizers are hoping such marketing efforts expand both the cookie and volunteer pools.

"A lot of it is word of mouth, and we created a Facebook 'event.' Where last year we just had it on our page, this year we have the Facebook event so I could go say, 'Hey, I want to go,' and start clicking invites to all my friends. We didn't do that part last year. It'll spread the word. Before people could just see it; now they could see it and invite."

Mrs. Davis said this is her final year to coordinate the drive. She and her husband are permanently changing station soon.

Neko Castleberry, wife of Airman 1st Class Michael Gonnella, an employee at the National Air and Space Intelligence Center, will take over the 2013 drive.

Ms. Castleberry said she has made a lot of friends in Spouses-in-Action and the cookie drive and feels it's a great way to get involved in the community.

"It's a really good event at this base and needs to continue," she said. "It's definitely a good way to kick off the Christmas spirit right after Thanksgiving."

Looking forward to chairing next year's drive, Ms. Castleberry made the following plea: "Keep on baking cookies. There's always new, unaccompanied Airmen coming to this base, and we always need more cookies."

The wrightpattcookies@yahoo.com   email address will be utilized again for making cookie pledges in 2013, she said.

Tara O'Meara, wife of Capt. Gordon O'Meara, a NASIC employee deployed in Afghanistan, was a first-time volunteer this year.

"I stopped working, so this year I had the time and decided to volunteer.

"It's impressive to see this much -- this many people baking," Mrs. O'Meara said. "I baked last year but all I saw was what my husband left the house with. Right now I'm seeing how many people actually do it."

Sarah Folks, a member of the WPAFB Officers' Spouses' Club and the OSC cookie drive chair, said, "This is kind of a tradition at every base, that the OSC helps sponsor the cookie drive and it's something we all get excited about. We plan what cookies we are going to bring; some of us get together and share recipes."

With some international spouses in OSC, Airmen may receive out-of-the-ordinary cookies. An Australian spouse and women from Great Britain are part of the club and shared their recipes, Mrs. Folks said.

"I really believe in this. I think that it's so important for those Airmen that may not be able to go home, may be away from family over the holidays; it can really brighten their holidays and make them feel really important and appreciated here in Ohio.
"I'm really glad we do it at all of our bases," Mrs. Folks said.

CAC director Floyd Johnson said the center has enjoyed helping host the cookie drive at its new location, complete with three Christmas trees, including a very tall one decorated in red, white and blue near where the cookies were assembled.

"The staff is very much participating," he said. "We're always in a holiday spirit."