Support Our Troops This Weekend

Wesley Chapel man needs coffee for troops overseas

From The Tampa Tribune

Enjoying your coffee today? Men and women serving in the military oversees who rely on what they get from home most likely aren't because Bob Williams is out of beans.

Williams, of Support Our Troops in Wesley Chapel, each week ships 300 pounds of donated coffee — and just about everything else he can get his hands on — to troops in Iraq, Afghanistan and other places in the world.

But his supply of donated coffee, which years ago arrived by the ton and filled aisles in his warehouse, is depleted.

Starbucks roasting plants once sent beans for shipment to troops, but tough economic times forced the company to cut back and close stores. The reductions choked donations during the last year to a trickle, with only individual pound-sized bags donated by customers at Starbucks stores making up most of the coffee sent to troops.

Williams is inundated each week with e-mail requests sent from soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines for essential items. On Wednesday, he went hunting for 500 sets of sheets and pillow cases for soldiers in Afghanistan who were issued mattresses but nothing to put on them.

"But coffee is still the No. 1 requested item and also the one that keeps them alert, for safety sake," Williams says.

To compensate this week, Williams went to Sam's Club to buy 50 pounds so he could stuff it into care packages. The coffee in one care package can serve 5,000 people on a base.

"Unfortunately, when you send that much coffee, you blow through" your supply, he says.

Convoys leaving the perimeter of forward operating bases usually depart with canisters of hot or cold coffee, depending on the weather. Commanders have told Williams during homecomings he has attended that the donated coffee has kept their soldiers alive.

"If you're driving along in a Humvee, you don't want to look for tripwires half-asleep," Williams says.

Their alternative to java from home is Taster's Choice dehydrated crystals contained in their MREs.

"They don't even bother to use water," Williams says. "They just throw the packet in their mouth and swallow it for the caffeine."

Soldiers frequently e-mail notes of gratitude for the packages they receive. Some send photos of their children. One group who got a box of cinnamon buns e-mailed pictures of each person posing with the pastries. Now coffee is the priority.

"If people want to buy a bag or a group wants to get together and buy, we would just love to have it," he says.

What type of coffee do his recipients prefer?

"Caffeinated," Williams says. "The stronger the better."

To donate, mail to:

Support Our Troops
Bob Williams
PO Box 7560
Wesley Chapel, FL 33544

To donate in person:

29807 State Road 54
Wesley Chapel, FL 33543
(800) 367-3591

posted by admin @ 6:00 PM