Kirtland Spouses' Club cookie drive huge success

  • Published
  • By Ryan Stark
  • Nucleus writer
KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. --  People began bringing cookies to a drive-up area in front of the Mountain View Club at dawn on Tuesday, the second day of the Kirtland Spouses' Club holiday cookie drive.

By mid-day, an army of volunteers was sorting and packaging a mind-boggling number of donated cookies. Lauren Townsend, the club's vice president for communications, said the Kirtland community responded to the call for donations with a total of more than 9,700 cookies, well overshooting the goal of 6,600.

"We far exceeded the goal," she said. "It's been an amazing response." The cookies are for the 548 Airmen who live in on-base dorms. The Kirtland First Sergeants' Club took the packages out for delivery on Tuesday afternoon.

In addition to the massive quantity of cookies, Townsend called attention to the dozens of volunteers who pitched in Monday and Tuesday.

One such volunteer was Senior Airman Tatiana Tubbs of the 377th Security Forces Group. She said her participation had everything to do with reaching out to her fellow Airmen during the holidays.

"A lot of Airmen aren't with their families this time of year," she said. "I wanted to contribute and help them out."

Spouses' Club President Maria Conway said she was overwhelmed by the response to the call for volunteers.

"There were people who didn't even sign up who just showed up to help," she said. "They heard through friends or friends of friends and just came."

Conway said club members want to thank the people and organizations that made the cookie drive a success, including: first sergeants, key spouses, Kirtland Family Housing, the 377th Force Support Squadron marketing team, the Mountain View Club, the Airman & Family Readiness Center, Van Buren Middle School students who prepared holiday cards for the cookie packages, and all the bakers who donated cookies.

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