Beverages

The Milk of Human Kindness

With Kwik Trip's help, wife sends cold milk to soldiers in Iraq
WEBSTER, Minn. -- The wife of a Webster, Minn., soldier is on a mission of her own sending cold milk to her husband and others serving in Iraq, according to a report by the Associated Press. And La Crosse, Wis.-based Kwik Trip Inc., which operates nearly 400 convenience stores in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa, donated up to 100 gallons of milk and $500 to help cover costs.

Kim Furhmann said she could not believe her husband, Major Roy Fuhrmann, a Blackhawk helicopter pilot in the 34th Combat Aviation Brigade, was drinking Gatorade with his Christmas cookies. She decided [image-nocss] he needed a cold glass of milk. Since then, she has shipped more than 30 gallons of cold milk to Iraq during the past month.

She has received many e-mails from soldiers who say the milk reminds them of home. One soldier was so excited he crushed up his chocolate-chip cookies, put them in his milk and ate them with a spoon.

It took a couple of trial runs for Fuhrmann to figure out the best way to the milk overseas. But she did. Along with the help of Kwik Trip, Continental Carbonic Products donated the dry ice and shipping materials.

When store officials learned how much it cost to ship the milk overseas $25.30 a gallonthey also donated $500 to cover some of the postage, said The Pioneer Press. "Any time we can help out the troops, we try to do what we can," Gary Gonczy, director of marketing and advertising for Kwik Trip, told the newspaper.

Gonczy said reading the e-mails of gratitude has touched the hearts of company officials. "It's amazing how a simple thing like a glass of milk can mean so much to a soldier," he said.

Fuhrmann runs a website, www.RememberingTheirSacrifices.com, and serves on the board of Dear American Hero, which hands out cards to soldiers and veterans to thank them for their service. She is raising money to help pay for packing and shipping milk to troops in Iraq. Checks should be made out to Kim Fuhrmann and mailed to 3161 Cass Trail, Webster, MN 55088.

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