Vance volunteers send holiday treats downrange Published Nov. 19, 2014 By Senior Airman Frank Casciotta 71st Flying Training Wing Public Affairs VANCE AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- This holiday season deployed Vance Airmen will enjoy six dozen cookies each, thanks to donations and the work of 39 volunteers who baked, packaged and mailed boxes in this year's Operation Cookie Cutter Nov. 14. "We do this every year to give our deployers a taste of home, plus some extra for those who may not get any care packages," said Tech. Sgt. Amy Snyder, who led Operation Cookie Cutter this year and is the NCO in-charge of family readiness at the Airman and Family Readiness Center. "They will also get cards from local children thanking them for their service." The cookies and other goodies come from retirees, spouses and active-duty Airmen who want to support their Team Vance family members away from home. Almost 2,000 cookies made their way into the Community Chapel Activity Center where volunteers packed them and shipped them out. "Our office organizes everything, but it's really the volunteers who make this happen," said Snyder. "They are the ones baking the cookie dough, filling out customs forms and packing the boxes." Leftovers will go toward Operation Warm Heart, a program ran by Vance first sergeants that organizes food distributions to Air Force families, primarily those with a single source of income. If there are still leftovers, they will be handed out during the base Christmas Tree lighting Dec. 8.