Some American soldiers serving in Baghdad are savoring every sip of their delicious coffee these days, thanks to a long string of bighearted Americans, who don’t even know each other.
This story starts in Baghdad, Iraq, moves to Powdersville, S.C., which is near Greenville, then to Sumner, Wash., and next to Conway before ending back in Baghdad where Alex Epps and his fellow soldiers are glorying in 50 pounds of freshly-ground coffee.
Epps is the son of Conway native, Cindy Creel Epps, who now lives in Charlotte, N.C., and grandson of Johnny and LaVerne Creel of Conway. He has been in Iraq for a little more than a year where he serves as a principal gunner in a Bradley tank.
Epps’ home base is Falcon, but he heads to Murray, the hardship base, according to his grandfather, for assignments that can take as long as a month. His biggest danger comes from Improvised Explosive Devices (IED’s) along the roads.
Epps heads back to Falcon after his assignments for tank maintenance. Alex apparently expressed the soldiers’ longing for some good coffee to his brother Jason on several occasions.
Creel says they didn’t have enough coffee and what they had wasn’t particularly good. They complained about staying active and awake through the long shifts that they are required to work each day.
So in a serendipitous moment, Jason Epps told a co-owner of The Twisted Bean, a popular coffee shop in Powdersville, that his brother and his friends were longing for good coffee.
The comment fell on fertile soil, and soon began to take root.
“My brother just kind of ran with it,” said Patrick McSharry, who owns the coffee shop with his brother Brian McSharry. “He said, ‘Well, we have a pipeline for coffee.’ ”
Brian got on the phone and called the shop’s coffee supplier, Dillanos in Sumner, Wash., and asked the folks there what is the biggest bag they can ship and how much it costs.
The coffee suppliers were willing to do much more than just ship the coffee. They donated 50 pounds of fresh beans.
Dillanos shipped the coffee to the Creels in Conway, where Johnny jumped in to complete his link in this good deed – getting the beans ground.
As a regular shopper at the Conway BiLo, Creel knew the store had a coffee grinder, so one day while he was doing his regular shopping he asked if he could grind the coffee there.
Creel showed store manager Cris McGuire a picture of his grandson and explained how the men yearned for high-quality coffee. McGuire’s okay came quickly.
Creel has made several grinding visits to BiLo now, running about eight pounds per visit through the machine. He poured the final beans into the grinder this past week, with the help of friend Jimmy Jordan.
Jordan and Creel say there wasn’t much to grinding the coffee, just pouring it in and catching it as it came out. It took them about 45 minutes to one hour for every 10 pounds.
“I appreciate BiLo doing that. They didn’t have to,” Creel said, adding that it was a service not just to a customer, but also to the troops serving in harm’s way in Baghdad.
After each grinding session, Creel packed up the precious powder, threw in a few flavored creamers and a variety of sweeteners and mailed the packages to the soldiers.
“They love it. They love it,” Creel said, speaking for his grandson, who was apparently on assignment and couldn’t return his emails.
The soldiers, who serve in the I-30 BN Echo Company, 2nd BCT – 3rd Inf. Division, were so appreciative, they gathered together with a The Twisted Bean sign in front of them and had their picture taken. They sent the picture back to the coffee shop.
The Creels are ready to see Alex come home, which he is expected to do soon.
The young man earned as associate’s degree in civil engineering at Central Piedmont. He joined the National Guard and then transferred to the regular Army. When he leaves Baghdad, he will undergo helicopter rotary maintenance training in Virginia.
Creel said he told his grandson if the coffee is all gone by the time he leaves to turn over what’s left to his commander.
Patrick McSharry said helping the fellows get their coffee was “a no-brainer.”
“They had a need and we wanted to help out,” he said.
McSharry said that even though the war itself might be controversial, he thinks everyone has the same opinion of the soldiers serving in the war.
“They are doing a great service and we want to support them,” he said.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Iraq War - for or against, our boys are there