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MINOT AIR FORCE BASE When the call went out last month that a Minot Air Force Base project needed 12,000 cookies for its annual Airmen's Christmas Cookie Collection, bakers in the Minot community and surrounding area turned out to help.

"We got more than 12,000 cookies," said Rebecca Sasseville, who was just finishing the sorting and packaging of the cookies at the base late Thursday afternoon. Sasseville, of Minot AFB, is chairwoman of the Christmas cookie collection.

Sasseville said the majority of the cookies came from the Minot community.

The trays of cookies go to airmen who live in dormitories and to their work stations. Because of their jobs many airmen are unable to go home for the holidays to be with family and friends. The cookie project is done to bring them some holiday cheer.

Because the project received so many cookies this year, Sasseville said they will also be able to provide cookies to night shift workers and people in the field.

The Minot Area Chamber of Commerce has helped with the project for a number of years and is the downtown collection site for the cookies.

Sasseville said most of the donations have been unmarked with no requested credit.

"Homemade cards have come from Bismarck, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Colorado. Trinity Nursing Home (in Minot) has also put a big dent in the number of homemade cards needed," said Sasseville, naming some of the places which have contributed to the homemade card request.

"The Christmas Cheer project is also growing southbound," she said.

She said for the second year in a row a sixth-grade class from Pioneer Elementary School in Bismarck has made cookies and cards for the collection. "They've turned it into a civics class," she said.

When organizers weren't sure if they would have enough cookies Tuesday night, she said John MacMartin, president of the Chamber, and his wife, Kim Thompson, donated 20 dozen cookies to the project.

Sasseville said she had several calls from surrounding areas who asked for local drop-off information.

"Granny's Goodies (in Minot) has been a big sponsor over the years of Minot AFB," Sasseville said. She said they have relatives in the service and not only are baking for Minot AFB but have contacted another base to see how they can personally bake for their relative's unit.

The Minot AFB Officers' Spouses' Club is chairing the cookie project, with the help of many groups, organizations and individuals on the base.

The cookies from Minot AFB and local area bakers, along with candy and homemade Christmas cards, were sorted and packaged Thursday at a hangar on base for delivery to airmen. Sasseville said many airmen helped with the sorting and packaging.

Sasseville said the cookie collection is a big job but she has a good partner in the project, Dawn Stahl, and the many others who have helped with the collection.