KSC cookie drive nets more than 10,000 cookies

  • Published
  • By Ryan Stark
  • Nucleus writer
KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. --  The cookies began rolling into the Mountain View Club as the sun rose on Dec. 15, the second day of the Kirtland Spouses' Club holiday cookie drive.

The first day alone, more than 8,900 cookies had been donated. By the following day, volunteers were hard at work taking in even more cookies -- more than 10,000 by around 8:30 a.m. -- as well as packaging them to deliver to Airmen and Soldiers residing in the dorms on base.

Last year more than 9,200 cookies were donated for around 500 on-base Airmen.

Jo Hunter -- the wife of a retired Airman -- was in her second day of volunteering Tuesday morning. She said helping out with the KSC event was the continuation of a tradition going back to her husband's years in the service.

"We used to bring cookies to all the desks and the guard shacks," she said. "When we found out these guys were doing a cookie event, I had to be part of it."

Hunter said an Air Force base could be a lonely place during the holidays for some.

"A lot of them are still kids," she said. "They're away from home, maybe for the first time. It's easier to communicate with family back home these days, but mom's still
not here."

Maria Conway, KSC president, said the club received a tremendous response to their call for cookies.

"Everyone is excited to support these Airmen," she said. "We had one lady bring 35 dozen cookies yesterday."

Conway said 18 volunteers helped on Monday with the drive-up cookie donation line at the Mountain View Club, with many more expected Tuesday.

"In times like these, and at this time of year, it's about serving the community," she said.

The club had important partners helping make the cookie drive happen this year. Students at the Youth Center, Sandia Base Elementary School and Albuquerque Academy, as well as the family of 377th Air Base Wing Commander Col. Eric Froehlich, made hundreds of holiday cards to accompany the cookie bags.

The Mountain View Club staff, the Security Forces Association, Kirtland First Sergeants, the Base Defense Operations Center, and numerous on-base first responders helped.

For more about the Kirtland Spouses' Club, visit www.kirtlandsc.org.