Emily Snow's husband,

John, is flying a Black Hawk helicopter for the U.S. Army in Iraq. He

is based out of Ft. Hood in Texas and has been overseas since March. Emily

has moved to Peachtree City, with their children, to be with family until

he returns.

John and 30,000 other troops

from Ft. Hood will not be back for Christmas this year, so Emily is hoping

to send some Christmas cheer over to Iraq with Operation Decorate.

Operation Decorate is seeking

donations of gift items, money for shipping the goods from Georgia to

Texas (the government will pay to ship the goods to Iraq) and Christmas

ornaments and decorations. The Army is donating 22 Christmas trees but

they will need to be spruced up. Among the suggested gift items are CDs,

DVDs, socks, batteries, disposable cameras and phone cards among other

things.

There is a donation box at

Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Peachtree City as well as a church in

Kennesaw. The Peachtree City Wal-Mart will also be donating some items

to the cause, as will the Wal-Mart in Decatur.

The deadline for donations

is Oct. 31. Once shipped to Texas, the Army will turn around and ship

the donations collected to a number of different brigades from Ft. Hood.

They must ship the goods as soon as possible to guarantee that the items

reach the troops by Christmas.

There is also a direct deposit

account at the Wachovia in Peachtree City by the Kedron Kroger. Money

donated to the account will help pay for the shipping of the goods to

Texas.

For more information on Operation

Decorate, e-mail [email protected].