OPERATION SILENT SANTA

This years last mission is Operation Silent Santa this kind of mission brings out the best in everyone.  We are supporting the Department of Family and Children's Services Silent Santa Program for Children in Foster Care.  Our Mission is to deliver the donated toys to the foster homes all over the county.  For this we have set aside two weekends and a special force for Christmas Eve.

Operation Summary

Operation Summary: The Bartow Etowah Squadron supported by attached personnel from the Boy Scouts Of America Troop 157 and Georgia State Defense Force 1st BN of Rome answered the call from DFCS.  The Bartow County DFCS is in a desperate situation and could not cover the delivery of toys for the Silent Santa Program.  They just didn’t have the man power due to case loads and being short on personnel.  DFCS Supervisor Gail McDanials called out to the community for help.  Boy Scout Troop 157 helped with sorting and  packaging of toys.  Collection points were established at North Metro Tech, Woodland High School and Cherokee High School.   The toys were all delivered to the DFCS office and littered the hallways.  At this point the GSDF and Civil Air Patrol volunteers arrived (20 of them) to sort and place the toys in deliverable packages.  During the operation DFCS would call with additional toys to be delivered that were donated and sorted by the donator.  In this case drivers were assigned based on their availability.  Each organization donated several hours of time and lots of gas supporting this operation.  I would like to note that some of the toys were delivered to homes in GA over 100 miles from Bartow County.  One special delivery was made to Flint Michigan via Delta Airlines and Marriott’s Hotels this trip took three days.  During this operation the DFCS office acted as the TOC and all information was passed via E-mail and phone.  Heavy delivery days were on Saturdays however small deliveries took place during the week.  All in all this group supported close to 300 homes for the Christmas morning activities.

SSGT Fleming GSDF and Cadet Z. Collins CAP 11 Dec 05

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