Gotta be KD? Not for Canadian soldiers

Most of the thousands of boxes of Kraft Dinner collected by an Alberta town's residentsfor Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan won't be unpackedin the war-torn country.

People in Morinville, north of Edmonton,collected the boxes after a soldier toldthe mayor's wife that Kraft Dinner was amongthe top four things he missedwhile serving overseas.

The townspeople rallied to collect a box for every soldier.

"The response was overwhelming. We initially hoped to get about 400 boxes and wound up with about 4,000," saidMayor Lloyd Bertschi.

But the Canadian Forces Personnel Support Agency had no way of shipping that much goodwill to Afghanistan.

"There is a limit to the amount of transportation space to ship anything overseas," said Jim Peverley, the agency'sdirector of deployment.

According to the Bertschi, 200 soldiers in Afghanistan will each gettwo boxes of KD through the Edmonton Garrison Family Military Resource Centre's regular Christmas shipment.

The remaining 4,200boxes of macaroni and cheese were donated to food banks in the Edmonton area last week.

Not much space to shipdonated goods

Peverley said the troops already have enough food and clothing, while Operation Santa Claus presents were shipped to Afghanistan in October.

The agency warns on its website that there is little space for donated goods in its supply system, and encourages Canadians to show their support in other ways.

Suggestions on the agency's website include posting a message on the online message board and buying Support Our Troops merchandise, online or at stores on bases.

Lt.-Col. Alan Markewicz of the Edmonton garrison encourages buying ball caps, T-shirts and other items.

"You are supporting, visibly, the troops, and that's an important morale boost," said Markewicz.

"The profits go back directly and indirectly to both supporting the soldiers and their families on the base here. And some of the profits, of course, go to help some of the programs in Afghanistan."