Sweet treats deliver scents from home

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Deana Heitzman
  • 35th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
Tables covered with various cookies line the officer’s club ballroom, while volunteers rush around dividing and placing them on red trays for distribution.

Misawa’s annual Cookie Caper delivered delicious home-baked cookies, Dec. 7, to approximately 1,500 unaccompanied Airmen, Soldiers, Sailors and members of the Japan Air-Self Defense Force.

Baking started two days prior after the Misawa community donated dough for volunteers to bake at the Commissary. The Cookie Caper committee members also took donations throughout the day proceeding the event to give other members of the community a chance to contribute.

In addition to catering to U.S. service members, the Cookie Caper committee members included the installation's Japanese counterparts.

“The Japan Air Self-Defense Force members are also here and it is important to include them in our team,” said Karri Frizzell, spouse of Chief Master Sgt. Chuck Frizzell, 35th Fighter Wing command chief, and the Cookie Caper committee leader. “They don’t move around as much as U.S. service members do, and they may not have seen their families for a long time either.”

Totaling over 21,000 cookies baked and collected, first sergeants and leadership across the AF and sister services collected the trays of treats and delivered them to their units along with holiday cards provided by the American Red Cross.

“It’s important to ensure these [service members] get a sense of home during the holiday season,” said Jessica McCollum, the Cookie Caper committee leader. “Fresh baked cookies are a common tradition and we wanted service members who are away from their own family feel welcomed into the Misawa family.”