Hubbard man’s mission: Ship off 3,600 cookies to US troops overseas troopsSFlb

By Harold Gwin

Project: Serving Soldiers has sent 2,000 hand-held games overseas over the last year.

HUBBARD — It’s not unusual for people to send special holiday packages to loved ones serving overseas in the military at this time of year.

Cookies are a common content in those packages, and a young Hubbard man is leading an effort to ship 300 dozen cookies to U.S. military personnel in Afghanistan and Iraq within the next few weeks.

Zack Lord, who graduated from Hubbard High School in June, is the founder of Project: Serving Soldiers, which he launched with the help of fellow KB Toys store employees in November 2008.

Lord said he got the idea after learning from his brother, Luke, that a lot of soldiers weren’t getting any packages from home.

His family was sending Luke, who was serving with the Navy in Iraq, a couple of packages a month. Zack said he asked his brother if everyone got stuff from home and was surprised that the answer was, “No.”

“It killed me that there were men and women over there fighting for us, and they weren’t getting any packages,” he said.

He decided to do something about that.

He spoke to his boss at KB Toys in Hermitage, Pa., about organizing an effort to send hand-held games to military personnel overseas, and his boss thought it was a good idea. So did his fellow employees who joined the effort and began asking people to buy little hand-held games for the cause.

They packaged up the stuff and sent it to his brother and others they knew who were serving overseas to distribute to their peers.

“We’ve sent 2,000 so far,” Zack said, adding that he’s received reports that the packages have boosted the morale of those on the receiving end.

KB Toys may no longer be in business but Project: Serving Soldiers keeps going.

Most of those who helped Zack get started are now off at college, but Alisha Goldner of Hubbard, now a sophomore at YSU, stays involved and efforts are coordinated between their two homes, Zack said.

Alisha, who met Zack in high school, said she liked his plan right away.

“I thought it was awesome,” she said, pointing out that it started with just his brother, “But he decided to help everybody.”

This holiday, the goal is to send 300 dozen cookies and Project: Serving Soldiers has been raising money to fund the effort, collecting $1,800 to buy baking supplies and pay for shipping.

They’ve got three or four people serving in Afghanistan and Iraq willing to handle the distribution on that end, and they’re looking for more, Zack said.

They began baking this week at Churchill United Methodist Church in Liberty and at the Lord home and have about 50 dozen cookies ready to go so far.

Alisha said a lot of people are involved in the cookie effort, including people from the church and the Hubbard High School home economics class. The goal will be met, she predicted.

The plan is to ship the first boxes on Dec. 10 and make a second shipment on Dec. 15 to ensure that they arrive before Christmas.

It costs between $10 and $11 to ship each box, and Zack is looking for donors to “sponsor a box.”

Anyone wishing to do so and anyone who has a family member serving overseas who would be willing to serve as a distributor of the cookies can contact him at PServingSoldiers@yahoo.com or by telephone at (330) 550-1621.

The project still has some hand-held games to send out, and there are no plans to end the effort, Alisha said, promising they will keep it going, “As long as we can.”