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COLUMBIA, MO. -- 126 members of the United States Military are getting special gifts in the mail this Memorial Day holiday.

Columbia College volunteers collected donations for their new program called, “Operation Care Package”.

The program sends care packages to 3 American military units in the Middle East.  Each unit has a connection to Columbia College.  The units are from Orlando, Florida Salt Lake City, Utah and Columbia, Missouri.  It only took about a month to collect care package items and enough money for postage.

Project Coordinator Amber Barringer said, “Speaking on a personal note, this is very important because I’m an 8-year vet of the United States Navy.  Now being a full-time student, it great to see the great things that Columbia College is doing for their community and for service members as well as veterans is just absolutely outstanding and amazing.”

The first shipment was sent on May 4 to Afghanistan and should arrive by Memorial Day.  The other 2 shipments will soon be headed to military units in Iraq.  Navy Veteran Adrienne Bott knows the importance of the packages.

Bott said, “The main point is knowing that somebody is thinking about us while we’re there.  It could be somebody that we may not even know.  It may not even be in the same state that we live, but somebody is thinking about us and remembers that we are there and what we are doing for them.”

Our troops overseas are always looking for something from home.  They’ll enjoy Girl Scout cookies, socks, underwear and other goodies thanks to Columbia College and some generous donations.

Columbia College administrators want to make their “Operation Care Package” program an annual event.