This may not be Thanksgiving, but thanks are plentiful in Cookies for Our Troops' mailbox.
The Arnold-based organization -- operated by Sam's Pop Shop owners Sam Lombardo and Sandy Danison and organization treasurer Beth Kutchta -- sends about five boxes a week to local troops stationed in Iraq.
Since the war started in March 2003, Lombardo said, he has sent about $70,000 worth of supplies. Most were donated by local churches, businesses and organizations.
And the troops couldn't be more appreciative.
"Our soldiers are on the road moving equipment in and out of Iraq to ensure U.S. and coalition forces have the equipment they need to stop insurgent activity, restore peace and rebuild a nation," Brig. Gen. Charles J. Barr wrote to Cookies for our Troops.
"It was touching to see the soldiers' happiness to receive something from home as they took their cookies north with them on their convoys into the dangerous roads of Iraq," Barr wrote. "Everyone here enjoyed the treats and expresses their thanks to you for such a superb effort."
Soldiers have daily routines of physical training, working, eating, and sleeping, so a box of treats from home is nearly as attractive as the Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers walking into their lives to play a friendly Easter game of flag football.
Filled with everything from Slim Jims and Kool-Aid to toothpaste and toilet paper, and the big favorites -- popcorn, Girl Scout Cookies, and freeze pops -- the packages usually are shared by more than 100 soldiers. The goodies serve as widespread cheer to break up a day's monotony.
"It reminds me of the movie 'Groundhog Day' where it's the same thing everyday," said William Fike of Springdale, a chief warrant officer stationed outside of Tikrit, Iraq. "That's the hardest part -- the monotony of every day being the same. That's one thing the care boxes help with. They break up the monotony by having something new."
Although Fike grew up in Springdale, he eventually graduated from Kiski Area High School in 1988. He has been in the Army for 16 years. Fike is responsible for ensuring that soldiers sent on patrol or missions have the necessary supplies to return safely.
He said he received his first box from Lombardo the last week of March.
"We all appreciate the packages because we know that someone back in the States is thinking about us over here and cares enough to ensure we have a little bit of home," Fike said.
Fike's sister, Carol Simoni of New Kensington, collects trail mix and cookies for soldiers through a local Girl Scout Troop. She gave her brother's address to Lombardo.
"Even though you don't hear about it all the time, there's always something going on in the background," Simoni said. "It's important we don't forget them over there."
Lombardo said he refuses to forget about the troops and that Cookies for our Troops will keep going. And he's the first to say he doesn't do it alone.
The boxes that Sgt. Norman Enos, of New Kensington, received in late November contained two pizza ovens paid for by the women of East Kensington Community Circle; sauce and toppings from Mickey Fazio, owner of Fazio's Pizza and Italian Food in Arnold; and a sign from LaRusse Distributing that reads: "Sergeant Enos' Pizzeria and Shoe Shine Parlor. When you get home, we'll have a Budweiser waiting for you."
It took Enos and Sgt. 1st Class Theodore Banks of York County, the dining facility manager, four months to find cheese for the pizzas and to rig the generators to give off enough power to run the ovens.
In mid-March, Enos hosted a pizza party for 220 soldiers in his dining hall west of Fallujah.
"When the supplies for the pizzas started arriving, I was overwhelmed and humbled by the generosity," Enos said. "On behalf of all of us here at our camp, I wish to send a very big thank you to Cookies for our Troops for bringing a little sense of home to a very harsh and remote place."
Banks said a normal evening's dinner "became an event" because of the pizza from the Valley.
"Patrons were literally falling in the door once the word was relayed that we were preparing pizza with all the ingredients and fixings," Banks said. "It was truly a sight to behold."
The troops aren't the only people who are thankful for Cookies for our Troops.
Meighan Lewis has been married to Cpt. Jeffery Lewis for 10 months. He has been in Iraq for seven of those months. Her father, Ed Bulger of Arnold, gave her husband's address to Lombardo.
Although she sends Jeffery a box weekly, Lewis said, few soldiers receive weekly packages from home.
She was glad to hear a box from Cookies for our Troops came right when it was needed. Lewis said a huge box of personal-hygiene products and snacks arrived in late November -- just after the "store" over there burned down.
"It was a really good time to get all that. The place they went to buy everything was gone, so getting that box really helped out," said Lewis, who now lives in Clarksville, Tenn.
"Getting something, anything, really boosts the morale over there."
