How (or Why) Send a Taste
of Home came about.....
 Our son was deployed to Iraq in 2006. We had been sending him packages
every 10 days filled with goodies and gadets to make him feel like he was home,
if even just for a moment. Towards the end of October 2006, he called us
and told us how sad it made him feel that he was getting so many care packages,
yet there were many of his battle buddies that got nothing. He then told
us how he was sharing his care packages with them.
Mike started thinking about what we could do to help...and called Jim Quick, Village
Fudge & Candy Shoppe asking him if he would be willing to help us to
send each of the soldiers in my son's unit some fudge (that is our son's favorite
treat from home).
We then thought - well, sending fudge is great - but we wanted to do even more.
We figured, if some of the soldiers families couldn't afford to send care packages,
then they weren't able to talk with each other on the phone as often as we got
to speak with our son, Brian. So we decided - phone cards were needed! We
were very fortunate to be the recipients of Kiss  95.1's Callidays Card program,
and were given 170 $10 phone cards from the Ace & TJ show!
Then we decided that they also needed an uplifting word
from people that cared about them and they needed to
know that our community was beind them - so we solicited
local businesses and the community for help. To our amazement,
the community pulled together to help put smiles on all
170 soldiers!
The packages were shipped out the beginning of December
2006 - and all packages arrived in record time for the
holidays! At the same time the Unit in Iraq got
their packages, we travelled to Boone, NC where the unit
was based from, and presented them with a check in the
amount of $1,900 - to help the soldiers families left
at home. All the cards and letter to the Family Readiness
Group were signed: "Your friends from Mecklenburg,
Cabarrus, Rowan and Stanley Counties.
So many hearts were touched with this project, that
we just knew we needed to adopt another unit and spread
the joy to them!
Mike and I would like to take this time to thank everyone
one that pitched in to help with this project for the
past 2 years, and are thrilled that Village
Fudge has jumped on board this year to help us organize
our drive for 2007!
God Bless!
Mike & Deb Long
Update on our Son: Brian was sent stateside
January 2007 with injuries he sustained while in the
line of duty. He had back surgery in July '07 and has
healed up wonderfully! He relocated to Florida with
us and is looking forward to continue serving our country
for many years to come!
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