When it comes to assembly lines, Henry Ford had nothing on a group of Cobb County women who get together every couple of months to bake cookies and wrap and seal “goodie” bags for troops in Afghanistan.
They gather at the East Cobb Senior Center, huddle around both sides of a long table and pack all manner of homemade treats into plastic bags, which are rendered safe for shipping with several vacuum sealers that suck out excess air.
The club calls its effort Treats4Troops, and is headed by Grace Huberty, JoAn Clark and Carmela Walsh of east Cobb. They enlist volunteers to bake brownies and cookies and store them in refrigerators at the East Cobb Senior Center until they have enough to make a good-sized shipment.
Huberty said the volunteers get names and addresses of troops from churches, veteran groups and word of mouth. They accept both monetary and baked donations, as well as labor.
Many bring husbands to help pack pre-paid boxes from the U.S. Postal Service to assist in taking the boxes to a mailing point.
The effort is sanctioned by Cobb County, which provides refrigeration for cookies and other goodies until the volunteers gather and unbox, repackage and vaccum-seal the sweets in efficient, assembly line order.
Huberty and Clark said they send the tasty gifts “because it’s the right thing to do.”
“They get together every six to eight weeks and box up whatever goodies they have” to ship to troops in Afghanistan, said Shelia Perkins, program coordinator of volunteer and advocacy for Cobb Senior Services.
“Last time we did this we schlepped 10 boxes to the Post Office, and it cost $148.50,” Huberty said. “We know the troops appreciate it a lot.”
We send packages “to anyone over there in harm’s way. Here at the center they put up a small sign and people come in. The senior center has a big freezer for us,” said Huberty.
Huberty and her colleagues “are very reputable ladies so you can send checks to them marked for Treats 4 Troops,” said Carol Walls, program coordinator for the East Cobb Senior Center. (For more information, call Huberty at 770-579-8474, Clark at 770-422-4939, Walsh at 678-445-0306 or Perkins at 770-528-1445.)
“We accommodate them when they get orders together, and they store treats here in freezers. They have been doing this for quite a while. Any donations would be used for postage,” said Walls.
“My father was in World War I, I had two brothers in World War II, a third in Korea, and I spent four years in the Air Force in the Vietnam era,” said Huberty, who adds that about 30 people participate in the effort. “We just do what needs to be done. When I was in service I remember how much I looked forward to letters.”
Troops often write in appreciation. One wrote “it is great to know that there are good people that support the troops and have not forgotten us.” One soldier who was about to leave Afghanistan asked the volunteers to keep sending goodies to replacements. And another wrote: “you have truly touched hundreds if not thousands of lives.”
“It warms our hearts, too,” said Huberty.
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