Operation: Flavor

Camping Joe asked that I write up a little about our Operation: Flavor that my wife and I operate and is shown in my signature line.

Both my wife and I are veterans; she from the Marine Corps, me from the Navy.  She is now a Special Ed teacher here in Northeastern NC and I'm a "mostly retired" chef who helps other restaurant's kitchens get up and rolling.

One day she was trying to figure out something that could involve her class to help our military members in combat zones.  While throwing around ideas we hit upon the concept for Operation: Flavor.  Let's send them the "niceties" that help OUR food taste better.  We decided that PC (portion control) packages of mustard, mayo, ketchup, relish, nondairy creamer, sugar, salt, pepper, etc., be collected, boxed up and sent to various unit.

The first year we aligned ourselves with one of my good friends' in the food service business on Foodservice-dot-com.  To date he and his site are still graciously hosting our website.  During that year we collected money and product from other restaurants, some military folks, and a lot from ourselves (out of pocket).  All collected product/money went towards ACTUAL STUFF for our troops; postage was just one of the many things that came out of our pocket.  We sent close to 50 boxes ranging up to the 10 lbs mark to members representing all services physically in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The following year, with money just from us, we added probably another 50 boxes and, based on troops' requests, started adding other items ranging from shoes, socks, blankets, magazines, books and bedding linens.  Again, all these items have come out of pocket from DW and myself.

I have been in the process to "legitimize" our efforts by applying for a tax exemption (section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code).

Click on the link and see what we're about.  If you feel like donating, appropriate information is available and PayPal has been set up for security purposes.  If not, you can reach us at:
Operation: Flavor
PO Box 532
Enfield, NC 27823-0532

Again, NO FUNDS received are kept and none are ever used for anything other than the actual products for our troops.  We send out a package at least every other week, more often when we have things to send.

Whether you support the war or not should be irrelevant to whether the troops, who are there at our government's bequest, are supported.

Salutes.