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Letter to the editor

Warm heart, cool head

Neighbors whips up batch after batch of cookies and cooling neck bands to send to troops.

By BETH N. GRAY
Published July 6, 2007

Support for men and women in the armed forces is alive and healthy, even thriving, in Hernando County. Offerings range from cookies to cool sweatbands, from the postage to get the goods there to phone cards so military service personnel can call home on Independence Day.

Barbara and George Newlin of Silverthorn launched a sweets campaign in December during the Great American Cookie Swap. With help from their friends and neighbors, they have continued with Treat the Troops. "We've sent 11, 892 cookies since Christmas, " Barbara Newlin said.

The Newlins launched their effort with early brunch parties to which each baker brought five dozen cookies. The cookies were packaged into plastic sandwich bags of a half-dozen treats each, a variety of six bags stashed in each shipping box, the spaces filled with hard candies, cards and notes.

The bakers also contributed $5 each to defray the cost of mailing.

The project has grown steadily, and last month the couple shipped 3, 468 cookies. The Newlins have designated one of their freezers solely for cookies so donors can stock it any time. Some bakers tote in confections monthly.

More than 20 bakers have been involved. "We don't accept cookies from strangers, " Barbara Newlin noted, the security advice from a friend in South Carolina who has been baking for the troops since 1990 and the Gulf War.

Response from soldiers has been heart-warming, the Newlins say. A recent note from a recipient, who identified himself only as SFC Aquino, reads, in part:

"A package came for a soldier that is no longer here, and since the label said 'or any soldier, ' they gave it to me. Oh! But that smell, just homemade cookies! Someone out there really cares, someone REALLY cares. ...

"Everyone was reaching for their preferred cookie, and they were gone! We were kids enjoying your cookies and my heart was filled with hope again."

Another missive from a recipient called the bakers heroes. Barbara Newlin exclaimed, "I am sitting here looking at my big- screen TV and baking cookies in my convection oven, and I'm a hero?"

A new addition to the boxes is a cool scarf, an online idea proposed by one of Newlin's neighbors, Ginny Kritzman. She had them for golfing.

The scarf is a 40-inch-long, 2-inch-wide tube of cotton fabric in camouflage colors. It holds chemical crystals that, when soaked, will absorb 200 times their weight in water, then release it through evaporation.

"Worn around the neck or as a headband, the cool scarf provides all-day relief from the heat, " says the note in each scarf packet. Each should last a year, Kritzman noted. The crystals are available at local garden centers, and their primary use is to keep moisture in planting soil.

Kritzman and co-worker Judy Benkusy, along with several other Silverthorn seamstresses, have sent 295 scarves since May. "I want to keep them more comfortable if I can, " Kritzman said of troops serving in extreme heat.

And how to ship all these donated goods?

Dee Mills of Masaryktown, whose son, Marine Corps Sgt. Lea R. Mills, was killed in action in April 2006 in Iraq, proposed Prayers and Postage at the time of the corpsman's funeral. She asked for prayers and postage in lieu of flowers.

Mostly by word of mouth, she has collected postage for more than 200 packages going to Iraq and Afghanistan. Donations have come from throughout Hernando County, Wesley Chapel, Lutz, Valrico and New Port Richey.

Prayers and Postage is incorporated as a nonprofit organization, so the gifts are tax-deductible.

Newlin, of the cookie brigade, also conducted a fundraising luncheon at the Villages of Avalon. Combined with a silent auction of gift cards, dining certificates and gift baskets, the event raised $1, 300 for postage.

The Veterans Action Project Inc. of Spring Hill and New Port Richey has solicited funds for treats of a different sort: phone calling cards for the troops.

"A lot of organizations are doing it, " said Tony Hunter at the Spring Hill project office. The cards are going to members of all service branches, he said.

"We did it last year and we got such a great response from families and servicemen, " Hunter continued. "It was such a morale booster, we thought we would do it again."

Since Memorial Day, the veterans group has raised enough to purchase nearly 2, 000 phone cards at $20 each.

"The neighborhood involvement has just blown me away, " Kritzman said. "We feel good about what we are doing."

TO HELP

Support the troops

To make cool scarves: Call 352 796-2798

To make postage contributions: Send to Lea's Prayers and Postage Inc., PO Box 9000, Masaryktown 34604; Treat the Troops, 14321 Powell Road, PO Box 33, Brooksville 34609.

To purchase phone cards: Call Veterans Action Project at (352) 684-5011 or (727) 841-7329; send contributions to 13808 Linden Drive, Spring Hill 34609 or 5252 State Route 54, New Port Richey 34652.

[Last modified July 5, 2007, 20:27:35]