The Copper Country’s pride in its people and their military service earns a lot of support throughout the year. And during the holidays delivering a little piece of home to a service member can big a huge uplift to their spirits. With only a week, until the holiday season kicks off, the Houghton High School’s Interact Club and the Alfred Erickson American Legion have begun registering area service men and women for Operation Copper Country Active Duty.
This is a great community for outreach to people serving in the military. I think I first saw it when ROTC actually put on their Veterans Day program. And that kind of comes right around the same time that we really start hard on this project, really, trying to gather the names and helping out. They do a great job recognizing not only veterans but also current military personnel. – Traci Welch, Social Studies Teacher & Interact Club Advisor, Houghton High School
2024 is the second year the Houghton High School interact club has helped, says Interact Club Advisor Traci Welch, organize the local service member registry. She says it’s been fantastic to see students get involved with the program and ask businesses in the area to join as sponsors.
Last year, what we ended up doing was I had a message that I put out on the listserv. So the listserv is anybody in, any parents, anybody that wants to get school news. And then they could contact me. When they’d contact me, I would put those on a Google Doc, and then we shared that Google Doc with Deb Guilbault over at the Legion. The 27th is what Deb Guilbault gave me because they want to have enough time to package the gifts and get them all out in the mail. It can be, takes longer around the holidays to get packages out. – Traci Welch, Social Studies Teacher & Interact Club Advisor, Houghton High School
As a proud mom to a service member, Welch adds that the boxes that arrive to military members remind them of home. She’s even asked her son, who will actually be in town this year if he’d want a gift delivered to his home in the Copper Country or his base in Colorado.
And I’ve had other parents that have reached out and said the same thing, that their kids were touched that, you know, that they received that little bit of the Copper Country. I know my son’s coming home from Poland right before Christmas, so he’s excited to be coming home. And I asked him if he wanted to have the package sent to my house, or to Fort Carson. And he liked it at Fort Carson, I think, so that he could have that little touch of home when he was back to Colorado. – Traci Welch, Social Studies Teacher & Interact Club Advisor, Houghton High School
Operation Copper Country Active Duty will continue to accept service men and women registry until November 27th. Program organizers add that the program will accept up to a couple of days after the deadline, but want to make sure gifts can make it to the post office in time to be delivered around Christmas day.
Anyone interested in supporting the program can contact Traci Welch at Houghton High School or Debbie Guilbault, auxiliarypost186@gmail.com, from the Alfred Erickson post for more information. Families, friends or individuals who wish to register a service member for Operation Copper Country Active Duty should contact Traci Welch, at twelch@hpts.ustwelch@hpts.us, for more details. Those interested in donating to the program can find donation boxes at several locations around the area, find a list below.
Operation Copper Country Active Duty will begin to pick up donation boxes from sites on November 28th. Find more details here.
Baraga:
Baraga American Legion Post, Larry’s Market, Northern Oil, Woodland Firearms & Supply
Hancock:
Gino’s Restaurant, Pat’s Foods, Peterson Chiropractic, WMPL Radio Station
Houghton:
B&B Bar, Festival Foods, Surplus Outlet, Swift Hardware
Lake Linden:
American Legion Post 90
L’Anse:
Baraga County Memorial Hospital, Campioni’s Convenience, L’Anse Healthmart Pharmacy, L’Anse Sentinal, Pat’s Foods, Skytta’s Auto Value & Feed
South Range:
1902 Tap and Grill
Tapiola:
Karvakko’s Market
Twin Lakes:
4 Seasons Convenience, Krupp’s Mini Mart
Donations can also be mailed to:
American Legion Post 186 Auxiliary
1308 W. Quincy Street
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