The way to a soldier's heart may indeed be through his or her stomach, but the nurses at Allergy & Asthma Specialty Services in Puyallup have found that a more direct route might be through his or her sweet tooth.

"Our nurses are selfless," said Dr. W. Pierre Andrade, a retired colonel. "Honestly, I cannot take credit for the great things they do."

"We are always collecting things in the office to give to the troops," explained Elisa Sukenick, a registered nurse and office manager for the practice. "Then one year we sent Ms. Lugo's special recipe brownies and that was all we heard back about from the soldiers. So we decided to send them a lot more brownies."

Sukenick was concerned about the postage costs, however, so she contacted Operation Make a Soldier Smile, a local organization run by Denise and John Dhane, which coordinates large-scale donations to be sent to deployed troops from Joint Base Lewis-McChord. Before the brownies could cool, Denise had addresses for soldiers in the 62nd Medical Brigade ready and the postage covered.

"Two years ago, I was downrange myself and I received this outpouring of generosity from you," said Col. Scott Avery, commander of the 47th Combat Support Hospital, part of the 62nd. "I just remember those brownies - I think I gained five pounds!"

Avery and Brigade Command Sgt. Major Howard McBean visited the practice's Puyallup office on Dec. 20 to present Andrade and his staff with a certificate of appreciation on behalf of the soldiers of the 62nd. They also presented a certificate to 9-year-old Nathaniel Morris, whose grandmother, nurse Valeria Lugo, works at the practice and is the famous creator of the brownie recipe. Nathaniel is home-schooled and chose to make these donations his community service project.

"It is an honor to give back to the soldiers," said Lugo, who involved Nathaniel as well as her other grandchildren in an assembly line for the baked goods. The entire family gathers to pack containers and as each person handles a box, he or she says a prayer for the soldier who will eventually receive it.

In total this month, they baked enough brownies for 200 soldiers to have at least six brownies apiece - which translated to Operation Make a Soldier Smile sending nearly 500 containers of the tasty treats.

"Colonel Jack Collins (who is downrange with a few hundred soldiers now) has been overwhelmed by the support you've shown and I know they'll be excited to get these brownies," Avery said. "Thank you from all of us for what you do."

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