Volunteers gathered at the Fort Leavenworth (Kansas) Commissary Dec. 17, 2024, to prepare and handout holiday food baskets filled with groceries for soldiers and their families.
This event was coordinated by the Religious Support Office, and it was supported by volunteers from groups such as Association of the U.S. Army, Fort Leavenworth Spouses’ Club, Sergeant Audie Murphy Club and Combined Arms Center and Garrison Command Teams.
Volunteers gathered at the Commissary at 8 a.m. to assemble the grocery items, which were passed out later that afternoon to 100 soldiers, who were selected by their command teams with the majority being of lower enlisted rank.
Chaplain (Maj.) Christopher Weinrich, Garrison plans/operations chaplain, led the event for the second time, noting that he was able to see the impact this event had on both the volunteers and the recipients.
“Everybody loves to help out soldiers, and I think it just brings holiday and Christmas cheer to everybody,” Weinrich said.
The holiday food distribution was made possible through offerings from the chapel community, as well as from the donations of shoppers at the Commissary.
“For our chapel communities, we give offerings during chapel services and programs, and many times, the people that go to the service, they want to give money to honor God, but also to reach the Fort Leavenworth community, and this is one of the more practical ways that we, as a Religious Support Office, as a chaplain team, can do that,” Weinrich said.
Within each holiday food basket, recipients found ham, fruits, vegetables, Hawaiian rolls and frozen pie to have for their holiday dinners.
Volunteer Sgt. Anthony Santos, RSO, shared that this was his 12th time working with a holiday grocery distribution.
“This is what we do every year. This, I would say, would happen no matter what,” Santos said.
Of the 100 soldiers receiving the holiday food baskets, 70 of them were from the Army Corrections Brigade.
“It really does feel good for all of us when we can give back to the soldiers,” said Spc. David Gomes, Headquarters, Midwest Joint Regional Correctional Facility Battalion (Corrections), who helped distribute the food baskets as soldiers arrived to pick them up at the Commissary loading dock. “I’ve also been on the receiving side. I received a basket last month (during the Thanksgiving food distribution), and honestly it does feel good knowing that the unit really cares for us. They’re showing that they care for us individually and just as a group as a whole.”
As a bonus, Kansas City Chiefs mascot KC Wolf visited the Commissary during the distribution to add to the merriment.
“This one here is a little bit different because the KC Chiefs reached out and said, ‘Hey, we want to do something,’” Weinrich said.
Throughout the celebration of giving, KC Wolf was seen walking around the Commissary, taking pictures with recipients, volunteers and Commissary employees.
“It’s kind of a big handshake between the U.S. military and the Kansas City Chiefs to do a community partnership event,” Weinrich said. “And plus, I mean, who doesn’t want to see KC Wolf?”
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