Volunteers send goodness into war zones

So far: 340,290 and counting.

That is how many cookies Iowa Cookie Crumbs members have baked and sent to the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2007. By the end of this month, they will have added at least 35,000 more to that total.

That's a lot of cookies.

Iowa Cookie Crumbs was started by Abbie Crawford of Council Bluffs. She got the idea after reading about Jeanette Cram of South Carolina, founder of Treat the Troops. Over two decades, Cram's idea of sending home-baked cookies to the troops has spread across the country. Iowa Cookie Crumbs is the only chapter for Iowa and Nebraska.

About 180 participants from Iowa and the Omaha area are divided into three teams. Every month, the 60 people on one of the teams each bake 10 dozen cookies, pack them with accompanying letters and mail them to the troops overseas.

Most of the baking is done in advance, and the cookies are frozen until they're needed. Then they're taken to Emanuel Lutheran Church in Council Bluffs, where volunteers pack them.

The operation has grown. The first time, Crawford said, she and about 15 friends she had enlisted baked about 950 cookies. “We were so proud of ourselves,” she said. Now between 7,000 and 10,000 cookies go out every month.

The group has learned a few things over the years. Socks, which the troops always need, make a great cushion to pack around cookies. Forget sending chocolate chip cookies in the summer; they arrive in a big gooey mess. The cookies are baked slightly underdone so they don't break as easily.

They don't have to solicit names of troops to send the packages to, because word of mouth and the national organization keep them well-supplied. Anyone can submit a name. (Getting specific names is important because after the 9/11 attacks, the armed services no longer accept boxes simply addressed to “any soldier” or “the troops.”)

In November, with the holidays approaching, the Cookie Crumbs' mission expands. All 180 bakers, plus other volunteer bakers, will make and send off 35,000 or more cookies on Nov. 30.

It doesn't stop there.

Earlier this month the group carried out Operation Holiday Cheer, packing up 136 boxes full of holiday gift items for the troops. Sixty of the boxes were extra-big boxes for chaplains and hospital personnel to hand out. As Deann Over, Crawford's second in command, put it, the day was controlled chaos.

Tables at the church were heaped with piles of magazines, paperback books, packages of nuts and crackers, puzzles, games, calendars, tablets and note cards, candy, fruit cups, drink mixes, socks, knitted helmet liners and scarves, holiday decorations and personal items such as deodorant, soap, tissues and manicure kits. About the only thing missing for this mailing was cookies.

Everyone seemed to know his or her job, but Over was everywhere, answering questions and looking for needed items.

Carol Terry of Council Bluffs said she got involved with Iowa Cookie Crumbs after she turned in the name of her nephew to receive a package. She says it's important “especially for people who don't have someone at home to support them. The kids out there who don't have anyone — it just tears my heart.”

Working at the same table as Terry was Susan Poulos, who has been participating for four years. “It's a great cause,” the Bluffs resident said. “It lets them know we appreciate them.”

“We all write notes and letters,” said Terry, whose freezer already is full of cookies for the Nov. 30 mailing. “We get answers. They seem to love homey touches.”

Penny Jacober of Papillion started helping in 2008 because her son Michael is a Marine. “I heard about it on TV, and Michael had just deployed to Iraq. I called Abbie to get him on the list.” She ended up volunteering because “it's just a terrific thing to do.”

“I started at this time last year,” said Mary Foster of Council Bluffs. “I love to bake, so it was perfect for me.”

Belonging to Cookie Crumbs means a lot to Lt. Col. (retired) Diane Sedlak of Omaha. “With my military background, I know how much a care package means to people.”

It's her fourth holiday to participate, Sedlak said, and she always writes letters to add to the packages. “The letters we get back make it all worth while.”

Mailing out the boxes of care packages or cookies is costly. Last year, mailing out the holiday packages and the big cookie shipments in November cost almost $8,000 in postage. This year's Operation Holiday Cheer packages cost $3,816.70 to mail last week.

Crawford said the entire operation runs on donations and volunteer help. Many of the gift items come from local residents or businesses, she said.

Walmart gave the group $800 in gift cards to purchase items. The Bluffs casinos donate playing cards and dice. Knitting groups and prayer shawl groups send over scarves and helmet liners they've made. Crafters at retirement homes create gift items. Girl Scout troops write letters to add to the packages. Marian High School's baking club is making cookies for the big November shipment. Area Hy-Vee Supermarkets have set out containers for shoppers' donations. Church groups and schools donate money for postage.

“The entire metro community helps — from kids 3 years old to seniors,” Over said. “Everyone is so willing to help.”

The group's efforts are appreciated. Crawford has scrapbooks full of letters and e-mails from grateful soldiers.

She said every day she is sent new names of deployed troops to add to the list of recipients.

“It always seems like we'll never have enough cookies or care packages for everyone on the list, but somehow we always do,” she said. “It's a little Christmas miracle every year.”

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An excerpt from a letter from Spc. Eduardo Rodriguez in Kandahar, Afghanistan:

“I really enjoyed reading your letter. You described Iowa and the oncoming fall in such a vivid way that I could see it all unfold in my mind. ... I have read your letter over a few times and have kept a copy with me because I like the momentary sense of peace I get as the picture is painted in my mind. Where I am now is not so pretty. ... In some places the dust on the ground is so deep that when I walk through it I can almost pretend I was trudging through snow, if only it weren't for the heat. ... Thank you and could you thank the cookie ladies for me? ... P.S. Sorry about the sloppy handwriting and the chocolate smudges on the first page. I was trying to eat and write, not a good combination.”

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Contact the writer: 444-1067, [email protected]