EADS Volunteers Join American Red Cross Rome Area Chapter to Deliver Thanksgiving Baskets

  • Published
  • By Tim Jones
  • Eastern Air Defense Sector
Rome, N.Y. --  More than 400 families in the Rome area will enjoy Thanksgiving dinner this year thanks in part to the support of New York Air National Guardsmen and Canadian Forces members from the Eastern Air Defense Sector (EADS).

Nearly 30 EADS personnel joined the ARC Rome Area staff and community volunteers on Monday and Tuesday at St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church to prepare and deliver more than 400 Thanksgiving baskets. Most of the food was donated by local clubs, organizations and schools, which held food drives to support the annual project.

"I'm pleased that so many of our Air National Guardsmen and Canadian Forces members volunteered their time to help the Red Cross with this worthy cause," said Col. John Bartholf, EADs commander. "This type of volunteer effort demonstrates our commitment to the community and helps us strengthen our local ties."

EADS' volunteer effort was coordinated by SMSgt Maureen "Mo" Dooley, a Rome resident who has worked on the Thanksgiving basket project for the last 16 years. "The key to the success of our volunteer effort is that the Airmen and Canadian Forces members are here because they want to be here," Dooley noted.

For her part, Dooley said watching children receive baskets with their parents makes the labor-intensive effort rewarding. "There's nothing like seeing the smiles on their faces," she said.

The ARC Rome Area Chapter's Thanksgiving basket program is in its 29th year. Operated out of the church's gymnasium, the baskets are put together in an assembly-line fashion. Canned and boxed foods are laid out on long tables and on the floor in aisles similar to those in a grocery store. Volunteers take carts down the aisles, filling them with items from a shopping list. A typical basket - it's actually a medium-sized box - includes rolls, potatoes, several types of canned vegetables and stuffing. Turkeys were added to the boxes Tuesday before delivery or pick-up. Turkeys range from 10 to 20 pounds and are distributed according to family size.


The Eastern Air Defense Sector is headquartered at Griffiss Business and Technology Park in Rome. Staffed by active-duty New York Air National Guardsmen and a Canadian Forces detachment, the unit supports the North American Aerospace Defense Command's (NORAD) integrated warning and attack assessment missions and the U.S. Northern Command's (USNORTHCOM) homeland defense mission. EADS is responsible for air sovereignty and counter-air operations over the eastern United States and directs a variety of assets to defend one million square miles of land and sea.