Spouses of Aviano group hosts cookie drive

By Airman 1st Class Caleb House, 31st Fighter Wing Public Affairs / Published December 21, 2018

Members of the Spouses of Aviano group work together to attach holiday cards to bags of cookies during the holiday cookie drive at Aviano Air Base, Italy, Dec. 11, 2018. Approximately 25 members of the Spouses of Aviano members volunteered to help at the cookie drive.
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Members of the Spouses of Aviano group work together to attach holiday cards to bags of cookies during the holiday cookie drive at Aviano Air Base, Italy, Dec. 11, 2018. Approximately 25 members of the Spouses of Aviano members volunteered to help at the cookie drive.

Members of the Spouses of Aviano group work together to attach holiday cards to bags of cookies during the holiday cookie drive at Aviano Air Base, Italy, Dec. 11, 2018. Approximately 25 members of the Spouses of Aviano members volunteered to help at the cookie drive.
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Members of the Spouses of Aviano group work together to attach holiday cards to bags of cookies during the holiday cookie drive at Aviano Air Base, Italy, Dec. 11, 2018. Approximately 25 members of the Spouses of Aviano members volunteered to help at the cookie drive.

Holiday cards are stapled to bags of cookies during a holiday cookie drive at Aviano Air Base, Italy, Dec. 11, 2018. Many of the holiday cards were collected from multiple schools throughout the United States.
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Holiday cards are stapled to bags of cookies during a holiday cookie drive at Aviano Air Base, Italy, Dec. 11, 2018. Many of the holiday cards were collected from multiple schools throughout the United States.

Connor Oden, 4, son of MSgt Michael Oden with the 606th Air Control Squadron, designs a Christmas card during a cookie drive at Aviano Air Base, Italy, Dec. 11, 2018. Connor was assisted by his mother, Rachel Oden, a member of Spouses of Aviano.
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Connor Oden, 4, son of MSgt Michael Oden with the 606th Air Control Squadron, designs a Christmas card during a cookie drive at Aviano Air Base, Italy, Dec. 11, 2018. Connor was assisted by his mother, Rachel Oden, a member of Spouses of Aviano.

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AVIANO AIR BASE, Italy -- Members of the Spouses of Aviano group hosted a cookie drive for service members at Aviano Air Base, Italy, Dec. 12, 2018. Cookie drives have become an annual event at many bases. This year's drive was headed by Kristen Vaughn, president of the Spouses of Aviano group.

The group collected donated cookies from multiple places around the base. Once the cookies were collected, they were sorted into bags and separated by squadrons. Holiday cards collected from schools across the United States were included with the bags. Cookies were also distributed to some of the buildings around base as well as at each gate.

The first sergeants informed the Spouses of Aviano about the number of Airmen in the dorms and also helped deliver the cookies, Vaughn said. With the Airmen in the dorms being so far away from family and friends, Vaughn said she believes the cookies are truly valued by those who receive them. "I love giving back and this is an awesome way for the entire base to come together as a community to support the Airmen who don't have that taste of home and don't have that family that they can go to" Vaughn said.