6-year-old dives into mission for troops

When Ray Black, 6, first heard about Coins for Cookies, he decided to make it his mission to let service men and women know they were appreciated with the best thing he knew -- cookies from home.

The Coins for Cookies program began with Beth Gunther, a curriculum leader at Emerson School in Wheaton.

She suggested the students make a difference by supporting Emerson family service personnel overseas with a taste of home. The donations of spare change would be used to ship homemade sugar cookies from the Piece-a-Cake Bakery in East Dundee via its Operation Sweet Tooth.

Ray got so excited about the project that he made a collection jar with stars and stripes and began collecting from the 40 or so members of his extended family gathered for Thanksgiving dinner.

"I collected $105.23," he said. "I did it because the service men and women work so hard to keep our country safe, and sending them some cookies is a way to thank them."

Ray admitted his favorites aren't sugar cookies, but gingerbread and chocolate chip.

Suzy Black Morenay, his mother, said after they read the note from Mrs. Gunther, Ray got his piggy bank and emptied it.

"He started with that, then he put flag stickers on a jar and collected from everyone at the party," she said.

Emerson students and families came through on this project too. Gunther said they collected a total of $750. She found the East Dundee bakery is run by Diane and Roger, a couple who served in the Marines overseas and they run Operation Sweet Tooth as the best way to send a piece of home overseas.

Gunther said so far they have the names of 15-20 service personnel from Emerson families overseas and will collect more names.

"The cookies are free and the bakery only charges for shipping," Gunther said.

For more information about Operation Sweet Tooth, visit www.piece-a-cake-bakery.com/ or call (847) 836-6703.