Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Dozens of individuals and businesses across Clovis and Portales are baking and gathering cookies to give to single airmen for Christmas.
The first sergeants of Cannon Air Force Base have once again asked Cannon families and personnel to donate cookies to provide for the 700 single airmen on the base, which is up from 500 last year.
"I know from single airmen on the base that this is very significant for them and means a lot to them," said Susan Sackett, a military dependent with the Cannon Chapel Women's Group, who coordinates the Commando Cookie Drop. "I had an email from one airman who said finding a bag of cookies in her dorm room meant so much to her (last year) and thank you for doing it again this year."
Sackett went the extra mile this year and decided not to just stick to base advertising for her cookie fundraising but to turn to the local civilian communities for help as well.
"I am amazed when I go around base how many people know it's coming and want to help," Sackett said. "I wasn't sure how this would be received when we went around asking people but most were more than willing to participate and were excited to participate. I've been very happy about the base and the civilian communities' responses."
Julie Powell, owner and operator of Powell Family Dentistry in Clovis, said her business is always looking for ways to get involved with giving to their community and Cannon personnel, so when she and her personnel were asked to participate, they immediately agreed.
"At the dental office, our hearts are to serve," Powell said. "We wanted to look for ways to serve or give in general during the holidays. It makes it easy when people come to us with things that are already organized."
Powell and financial assistant Cleo Romary said the several employees of the dental office are going to bake cookies for their Christmas party this year to contribute to the cookie drop.
"Each one of us is bringing our own recipes and our own cookie sheets," Romary said. "We'll probably make two to three dozen a piece, I assume, and there are nine of us."
Sackett said the base is trying to collect 700 dozen cookies total, so each airman can have one dozen.
The Roosevelt County Chamber of Commerce is also helping with the cookie drop by advertising itself as a drop off point for cookies, which chamber officials will, in turn, deliver to the base.
Chamber Promotions Coordinator Sandy Van Der Veen said chamber officials learned of the event through a base email.
"She was so thankful for how wonderful Portales is to the airmen," Van Der Veen said of when she contacted Sackett.
Van Der Veen said she currently only has one volunteer to bake cookies to bring to the chamber, but she hopes to get more next week through advertising.
Cookies are due to the base by 5 p.m. Thursday and will be delivered to airmen on Friday.
"I don't know that we've ever gone to the civilian communities before but I would recommend doing it again," Sackett said.
To donate cookies for airmen, contact one of the following organizations:
