Cookie drive brings homemade treats to dorm residents Published Dec. 10, 2012 By Staff Sgt. Jason McCasland 2nd Bomb Wing Public Affairs BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. -- More than 800 Airmen returned to their dorm rooms after work Dec. 4 to find a decorated bag with cookies and thank you letters. For this annual event, local groups and military organizations came together to bring holiday cheer. The First Sergeants Council and the Barksdale Officers' Spouse Club here worked with more than six different agencies in the local community to provide this holiday treat to Airmen. "It was nice to come home after work and find the cookies waiting for me," said Airman 1st Class Cordias Howard, 2nd Communication Squadron client systems technician. "It made my day that much better, I still have the letter that I got. It made me feel like what I do every day actually matters to someone." Additionally children from A.C. Steere Elementary School in Shreveport, La., decorated more than 700 cookie bags to show their support for Barksdale Airmen. "We do this to boost the morale of the dorm residents during the holidays," said Senior Master Sgt. Emmitt Barttee, 2nd Logistic Readiness Squadron first sergeant. "The 'shirts' and the local community want the Airmen to know we are thinking about them during the holidays." With this simple gesture, dorm residents who will be unable to make it home for the holidays will know that despite being away from their families, their local family appreciates what it means to be an Airman.