While it’s true that we’ve complimented the Iowa Cookie Crumbs in the past, this morning, as most of us are surrounded by family or friends while sitting in our warm family rooms and opening gifts from under our decorative Christmas trees, it’s fitting that we take another moment to recognize once more this group of simple, caring Americans and the undertaking to which they are so dedicated.

On Wednesday of last week, we received a note from Abbie Crawford, a Council Bluffs resident and the founder of the Iowa Cookie Crumbs – a southwest Iowa group of bakers and helpers that makes and ships cookies and small gifts to our nation’s fighting men and women. Crawford’s note was a brief letter thanking and updating the organization’s supporters on the group’s accomplishments.

From the perspective of volume, the number of cookies the group has baked to date is simply astonishing

In 2011, Crawford reported that the group – thanks to support from a wide variety of businesses and individuals – was able to ship 123,672 cookies to troops in “harm’s way.”

Since the group was founded in 2007, more than half a million home-baked cookies have been baked, boxed and sent to men and women who are far from home, in many instances risking their lives to keep our nation safe.

As directed by the Pentagon, the average cookie is 2-inches in size. If laid end-to-end, the 502,000 cookies, at 2-inches each, would create a line of cookies 1,004,000 inches long. That’s 83,667 feet of cookies or a line of cookies nearly 16 miles in length. From another perspective, starting at Bayliss Park, the line would go all the way to Treynor and a couple of miles beyond.

Included with the letter was a photocopy of a piece of cardboard that was mailed to Crawford from a Lt. David Share, who is – or was at the time – a trauma nurse in Afghanistan.

The piece of cardboard was cut to the size of a standard postcard as it’s hard to find postcards in the remote outpost where Lt. Share was assigned.

The message on the cardboard was simple and direct. It was heartfelt thank you. In part the message read, “We are very grateful…It is our honor to be here. Thank you for the respect and love from home.”

The cardboard is confirmation that the cookies and gifts from the Iowa Cookie Crumbs are important and an act of kindness that money isn’t able to buy.

But, money is involved. In 2011, the Iowa Cookie Crumbs spent more than $19,000 for shipping to get their homemade treats to our service men and women. When they’re not baking cookies, the Cookie Crumbs are out asking for donations to keep their efforts alive.

On this very special morning, it is important to remember the men and women who are not sitting in warm family rooms and opening gifts taken from under decorative trees. Many of them are in remote places, cold and often without Christmas trees – most importantly, without their family members.

Mailing cookies to those who keep us safe is a sweet endeavor for and by some very special Americans!

Editor’s Note: Donations to help underwrite the Iowa Cookie Crumbs’ efforts can be sent to: Abbie Crawford, 117 Kingsridge Circle, Council Bluffs, IA 51503. "