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The Roseburg News Review---December 4, 2007
The employees of Umpqua Indian Foods have developed a creative, winwin program of making it easy for Douglas County residents to support US soldiers by purchasing camouflage Christmas stockings. The Cow Creek tribe is taking responsibility for the expenses of shipping the Christmas stockings to the troops.
By Marissa Harshman
Because Santa doesn’t leave anyone out, four soldiers from Roseburg and their entire unit based in Warrenton will receive camouflage stockings filled to the brim this holiday season.
The gifts won’t actually be delivered by a jolly man in a red suit, however. They’ll be found inside boxes shipped by the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians.
Beginning today, the tribe will ship 220 stockings to soldiers in a National Guard unit from Warrenton who are currently serving in Iraq.
Four Roseburg soldiers, Sgt. Mike Love, Spc. Denny Cortez, Pfc. Justin Cox and Pvt. 2 Alex Koester, joined up with the unit. Organizers didn’t want to single out the local soldiers, so they decided to buy and send all of the soldiers in the unit a stocking, said Carolyn St. James, general manager of Umpqua Indian Foods.
“It was a sensitivity issue,” she said. “Yes, it would be nice to send them to those young men, but we didn’t want the rest of the platoon to feel left out.”
The annual program started three years ago when employees at the Umpqua Indian Foods’ retail store were flipping through a catalogue and saw pictures of the camouflage stockings.
They decided to order some to sell at the store, St. James said, and from there the project exploded into an annual event that ships hundreds of stockings to soldiers across the U.S. and overseas.
Customers can bring in a name of a specific soldier or Umpqua Indian Foods can supply the names of men and women from Oregon who are serving around the world.
The stockings cost $19.95, and the Cow Creek tribe picks up the cost for shipping. To date, there are a total of 363 troops from Oregon serving overseas, said Sher Wilson, marketing and sales manager for Umpqua Indian Foods, who has been involved with the program for all three years.
Each camouflage stocking is stuffed with hard candy, a can cooler, stationary, pens and Umpqua Indian Foods USDA choice beef jerky. The stockings purchased by the tribe that are being sent to the Warrenton unit also include a phone card and batteries.
The first two years of the program, Umpqua Foods sold about 100 stockings each year. This year though, the program has expanded and has sold more than 300 socks.
Wilson said people have called to order stockings even if they don’t know anyone overseas; they just want to support Oregon troops.
“It’s growing,” St. James said. “Possibly because soldiers have been there one more year, and the war has gone on for five years now. We’re all very, very concerned about their safety and security and that they’re far from home.”
“We’re trying to get each and every one of them a stocking for Christmas,” she said.
For more information, call 541-839-6670 or 1-866-766-4372.
So you know:
WHAT: Camouflage stockings sent to troops
WHERE: Purchase:
- by visiting Umpqua Indian Foods’ retail store at 315 South Main in Canyonville, 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday;
- by visiting the company’s Web site at www.uifoods.com
COST: $19.95, the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe picks up the cost of shipping.
WHEN: Orders going out of the country must be received by Dec. 10. Stockings being delivered in the U.S. must be received by Dec. 15.