Some local business owners are bringing holiday cheer to troops in Afghanistan by sending hundreds of care packages.
Peter and Jonette Kesseck, owners of Cape Coral-based Sip and Send, have sent 162 boxes filled with goodies overseas, as part of their “Holiday for Heroes” campaign.
Many of those boxes were filled with donations from Cape Coral city employees.
Normally, the Kessecks conduct the drive solely through their shop. But a recent move hindered their plans, so the Kessecks reached out to the city in hopes of getting some help.
“We were at our wits end so we went to the city,” Jonette said. “It just turns out the soldier we were sponsoring this year is related to someone who works for the city.”
The Kessecks started sending the boxes three years ago.
In their first year, the Kessecks sent out 64 boxes. Last year they sent 206, and next year they’re hoping to send over 300 boxes.
“We started hearing what these soldiers go without, and we realized how cheap it is to send a box to a soldier,” Kesseck said.
Kesseck said they take up a collection for shipping costs in their Santa Barbara Boulevard store, and that their customers often donate several times a week.
The boxes themselves are filled with socks, beef jerky, cookies — things people stateside take for granted — to give enlisted men and women a little taste of home.
“Its really just an outpouring from the community,” Kesseck said
The boxes went out on Dec. 4 and 11, so Kesseck said soldiers should already be enjoying their holiday treats.
For more information on the Kesseck’s efforts, or to learn more about next year’s “Holiday for Heroes” campaign, call Sip and Send, 2221 Santa Barbara Blvd., Suite 102, at 772-1076.