The Falcons Landing chapter of the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA) rang in the holiday season with its largest mailing to date of home-baked cookies for troops serving in Afghanistan. As the holidays began, members of the Falcons Landing baking team shipped 38 boxes of cookies from the Potomac Falls post office, providing a total of nearly 200 dozen cookies for the troops.

As might be expected, the cookies are a big hit in Afghanistan.

“You are so incredibly thoughtful and gracious [to] send us home-baked desserts,” wrote 1LT Tristan Engler of the U.S. Army Military Police Corps in an email message. “Believe it or not, I have a fellow officer rummaging through all the bags of treats! He says ‘Thank you!’ and ‘Mmmmm’ (Delicious!).”

“I’d like to take a moment to thank you and your colleagues for the wonderful homemade cookies you so graciously sent,” wrote Major Stephen Marsh of the U.S. Army on Christmas day. “Sometimes people forget that this gesture means just as much today as it did almost 10 years ago when the conflict in Iraq kicked off.”

The “Cookies for the Troops” program was launched in February by Ellen Van Buren, the liaison auxiliary on the MOAA chapter board of directors at Falcons Landing. For the first mailing, 18 bakers produced 13 boxes of homemade treats. These days, the bake squad has grown to 31 bakers, including nine Falcons Landing staff members.

The Falcons Landing resident bakers include Lois Agnew, Mariann Blassingame, Ione Braswell, Elinor Cheney, Beverly Cooney, Virginia Edson, Ellen Firsching, Janet Goldfogle, Inez Goldstein, Ginny Kinniburgh, Ann Ladd, Carol Lehman, Jean Lewis, Clara McMullen, Pat Miller, Sandra Motzinger, Reggie O’Conner, Ethel and Debbie Oliver, Mary Reinhard, Annette Smith, Ellen Van Buren and Fern Walmer.

The Falcons Landing staff bakers are Wendy Baileay, Elly Cho, Debbie Hannah, Yvonne Huges and daughters, Donna McKernin, Lucila Ochoada, Lisa Partridge, Tiffany Plante, Lisa and Will Partridge and Cecilia Rubio.

The Cookies for the Troops co-chairs, Van Buren and Walmer, report that the customers and staff at the Potomac Falls post office often rally around the cause.

“Long lines appear when these mailings are made,” Van Buren said,”which could produce impatience among those waiting in lines behind the Falcons Landing crew. It is rewarding to see the impatient customers demonstrate a total ‘attitude adjustment’ when they are informed that the boxes are cookies for the troops.”

The Postal Service staff has gone the extra mile for the project, too. One day, upon her return from the post office, Van Buren learned that one of the recipients had a new address. When she went back to the post office, a postal staffer named Voy was able to locate the box so that the address change could be made.

“It’s a fun thing to do,” Van Buren said. “Getting the pictures for the first time in this last mailing, that was really exciting. It was exciting to see the guys eating the cookies. That first letter came in about six days after sending the box. It was mind-boggling.”

The Cookies for Troops project will continue in 2012 with mailings in March, August and November. The program recently opened a separate treasury to help pick up the postage costs. Financial contributions from all interested parties are welcome. For more information, call 703-450-4747.

Some of the Falcons Landing “Cookies for the Troops” bakers. Photo/courtesy Ellen Van Buren.