Operation Cup of Joe deemed successful again

SAUGUS – When Police Officer James Scott launched the 2nd Annual Operation Cup of Joe this past year, he was a little worried given the economy. He didn’t need to be.”We collected over $3,400 in seven days,” he wrote via e-mail. “We purchased 16 cases of Dunks coffee at cost, thanks to Manager John Malachowski (at the Dunkin’ Donuts) next to Route 1 mini golf.”Scott also had a shout out for the keepers of the orange dinosaur, who let the collectors use their lot, and also to S. McGarvey Towing and Burlington Police for their large contributions.Scott launched the program in 2007 after having coffee with a friend who had recently returned from an overseas tour of duty. Scott said his friend mentioned how much he missed Dunkin’ Donuts coffee – and that was all it took. In 10 days the crew raised $5,700 by passing helmets to travelers sitting in traffic and sent coffee to U.S. Soldiers serving all over the world.Scott said the 384 lbs. of coffee bought this year was split between The Hanscom Air Force Base holiday care package drive and Carepacks.org.”Our coffee went into their holiday packages which were sent all over,” he said. “With the money left over we will be able to ship some cases every month or two to several large units during 2009.”Scott said one large unit the Cup of Joe program has supported for over a year is a medical unit.”The old unit just rotated out and was replaced by Jennifer Diamond and her troops,” he said.Scott said he has enjoyed hearing from other soldiers as well such as SFC Tim Mead, the AVUM Platoon Sergeant for the MEDEVAC in Al Asad, Iraq.”I am sipping on a cup of French Vanilla coffee you all have provided,” he wrote to Scott. “I wanted to write to thank you and all those involved in providing the coffee for troops here in Iraq. Your generosity is greatly appreciated.”Mead also filled Scott in on what he does while sipping coffee in Al Asad.”Our mission is to provide combat medical evacuation for all troops operating in Western Iraq (Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines) in addition to the Iraqi Army and local population,” he wrote. “We operate UH-60 Blackhawk Helicopters configured for medical evacuation. We are stationed at multiple forward operating bases in order to decrease our response time in the event of a medical emergency in the field.”He said the unit is made up of pilots, medics, crew chiefs, mechanics, fuelers, radio specialists and flight operations specialists to name just a few and includes soldiers from 19 to 59 years of age from four different states.All in all, he went on to say that Al Asad is not a bad place to be stationed. The food is good and plentiful, the housing “adequate” and the base provides free Internet and Armed Forces Network TV.”So far the water has been hot and has not run out, so I am keeping my fingers crossed on that. All in all we are not suffering too much,” he wrote. “In closing I would again like to express my appreciation for all that you and your organization has done, not only for myself but the soldiers I serve with.”And that, Scott said, is why he does what he does – because a little coffee really can go a long way toward making someone’s day, in this case, halfway around the globe.