Del. resident looking to make the holidays sweeter for troops overseas

Thursday morning, Judy Mangini and her husband Paul Mangini packed dozens of homemade cookies to ship out to troops overseas for the holidays.

"I thought it would be a good time to let them know we haven't forgotten them that we still support them, we love them, and here is a little taste of the holiday" says Judy.

The Manginis have  been calling it Operation Cookie Drop Off. This was started back in 2005, after a cookie exchange at Judy's house.

"I had all these cookies leftover and I don't need them. So I thought, if I thought ahead I could've shipped these overseas, to our Boots on the Ground fir Heroes and brighten up their day," says Mangini.

Judy tells 47 ABC this project holds a special place in her heart. Many generations of her family have served different branches in the military, including her husband, who served in the Navy and knows the feeling of getting gifts while being away serving the country.

"When you got a package from home it was very treasured, we used to call them 'geedunk' packages, it was usually something from mom, and something that she knew that you didn't get a lot of," says Paul Mangini

The Mangini's tell 47 ABC the past couple of years they've received lots of support from their community for this project. Residents across Delmarva have dropped off dozens of home baked cookies, and as of Thursday morning they had over 1,000 dozens of cookies.

"This is a community effort. People thank me all the time an I say the troops are the ones that deserves the thanks," says Judy.

The Mangini's will be accepting cookie donations until 4 PM this Saturday at the American Legion Post 28 in Millsboro and will be mailing them out on Monday.

The Mangini's are also accepting donations for shipping supplies, for more information click here.