The Office of the Secretary of Defense on Thursday honored Jeanette Cram, known to thousands of U.S. soldiers as “The Cookie Lady”, with a Medal for Exceptional Public Service.
Cram’s organization, Treat the Troops, bakes and sends cookies to deployed soldiers. The group is a member organization of America Supports You, a group dedicated to supporting American troops abroad. To date Treat the Troops has baked and sent more than 437,792 cookies to American military personnel.
“I can’t not do this,” Cram said about why she bakes for the troops. “I just have to do this.”
Cram believes soldiers deserve to know people at home think and care about them. She began baking cookies for soldiers on her own during the Gulf War. Eventually she created Treat the Troops and recruited volunteers — who she calls “Crumbs” — from 38 states.
Without her Crumbs, Cram said, “[Right now] I’d have dough all over my face. I’d have on my apron.”
Before receiving her medal, Cram met with U.S. Army Sgt. Maj. William J. Gainey. She presented him with a package of cookies, most of which he planned to give to troops in a Bethesda hospital that afternoon.
DuPont Teflon, which partners with Treat the Troops to raise postage to send their cookies abroad, also received a Medal for Exceptional Public Service.
“The cookies would [still] be sitting in the kitchen if not for DuPont,” Cram said.
