ORONOGO, Mo. (AP) -- A southwestern Missouri woman is sending Hostess snack cakes to troops in Afghanistan as part of a campaign called Operation Twinkie.
Trisha Monroe told The Joplin Globe (http://bit.ly/148NaG7 ) that 384 boxes of the treats were delivered to her Oronogo home Monday. She said she'll begin sending the Hostess cupcakes and Twinkies this weekend to soldiers overseas.
Monroe said she received an email from Hostess, saying it wanted to send another shipment to her for Veterans Day. She founded the campaign last year and has sent about 2,000 boxes with the help of the company and others who have donated to the cause.
"It's been amazing," she said. "Last year, if I had any idea that it would have gotten to where it is now and that I would have Hostess contacting me, I would've said, 'You're crazy.'"
Her 22-year-old son, Zachary Wilson, was stationed in Afghanistan with the National Guard for nine months. Wilson now attends a welding school in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
"I sent him a box of Twinkies one time, and then the next shipment I sent two: one for him, one for another guy," she said. "Then everybody found out he had Twinkies and everybody wanted one. He said, 'Mom, they're like gold over here.'"
Wilson said his mother's efforts also boosted the morale of soldiers who didn't have family or friends sending them care packages.
"Some people in our company didn't get packages from home or didn't have family to talk to at home," he said. "It's a collective effort to not only provide Twinkies to soldiers, but also to send something to soldiers who don't have those little bits of comfort that others have the fortune to receive."
Information from: The Joplin (Mo.) Globe, http://www.joplinglobe.com