Local food sent to Minnesota Soldiers

Call it "one for the thumb."

The fifth installment of Serving Our Troops, a charitable feast served up by St. Paul businesses for Minnesota military members headed abroad or serving overseas, kicked off Friday morning as a caravan of meat, potatoes and beer headed for Oklahoma.

"The message is pretty simple. We're bringing St. Paul to our Soldiers. We're bringing a little bit of our community — a community that looks after each other — to our Soldiers and our families," City Council Member Pat Harris said.

In what is becoming something of a tradition, the group on Monday will serve 3,500 steaks from Mancini's Char House to Minnesota troops and others training at Fort Sill.

Fort Sill is the current home of the 34th Combat Aviation Brigade Headquarters, based out of St. Paul. The brigade, which moves people and equipment on Blackhawk and Chinook helicopters, will join other units across the country before pushing off for a nearly yearlong tour in Iraq as "Task Force 34."

"It's a tremendous event," Minnesota National Guard 1st Lt. Randy Belden said. "I just can't say enough about the guys that put this together."

The idea was hatched during a late-night dinner at Mancini's more than four years ago: With all that the troops are doing for us overseas, why can't we do something for them?

A handful of businesses banded together to help stage the events, including Mancini's, Cossetta's Italian Market & Pizzeria, Skinner's Pub and O'Gara's Bar & Grill.

The first event, which fed troops serving in Kosovo, was followed by a cookout at Mississippi's Camp Shelby.

Serving Our Troops then set up massive simultaneous steak feeds at St. Paul's Roy Wilkins Auditorium and Iraq's Camp Adder, linking troops overseas with their families back home by satellite.

A similar event followed earlier this summer, linking Rochester with Kosovo.

Two rental trucks full of dry goods left O'Gara's early Friday, beginning a 12-plus-hour drive to Fort Sill, about 90 miles outside of Oklahoma City.

A refrigerated trailer full of steaks and Grain Belt Premium beer leaves Minnesota this morning.

Close to 60 locals are making the trip to help out at Fort Sill, where Friday temperatures hovered near 100 degrees.

By Jason Hoppin
jhoppin@pioneerpress.com
Article Last Updated: 08/01/2008 11:32:20 PM CDT