Travis community gives troops $9,000 in coffee

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Matthew McGovern
  • 60th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  This chilly winter, Travis deployed Airmen and other military members fighting the War on Terror overseas will be given a warm gift from the local community.

Over 885 pounds of coffee and 50 boxes of tea have been donated by a local coffee franchise in Vacaville. The franchise decided to ask their customers to donate to the men and women of the military as a holiday gesture.

"Tessie Messenger-Hanson, an employee of the Starbucks store and a veteran of the United States Army, set up a small box in the store to receive the donations," said Lt. Col. Oscar Vaughn, 60th Services Squadron commander.

"In the end, the box wasn't nearly big enough - donations kept coming, and the number of boxes continued to grow," he added.

Other coffee franchise locations became involved and soon volunteers needed a large van and sport utility vehicle to transport the coffee to Travis.

"We are all amazed to see this much coffee," said Messenger-Hanson. "It gives our customers a good emotional feeling to help out the troops."

Most of the bags had small greetings or holiday messages written on them, but many had heartfelt remarks attached - "come home safely," "We love you and miss you," "Because of you and your sacrifice my children and I sleep better at night."

"We are very appreciative - it makes us feel like we are not doing this job in vain and people care about what we're doing," said Master Sgt. Mike Washington, NCOIC Flight Kitchen and coffee transport volunteer.

Using $10 per one-pound bag of coffee and $5 per box of tea as median prices, the donation was worth more than $9,000.

The coffee should be delivered to U.S. troops in Southwest Asia later this month and some will be used for events when Travis Airmen are leaving to or arriving from Southwest Asia.

"Once again our incredible local community has come through," said Colonel Vaughn. "This donation will benefit not only Travis Airmen, but the brave men and women of the other branches of services who are away from their families now," Colonel Vaughn said. "It's comforting to know that our efforts in fighting the Global War on Terror are appreciated, and our soldiers, sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen are on the minds of so many. "I can't say thank you enough to all those who donated," he said.