US: Pennsylvania potato chip maker sending chips to troops overseas

The American Red Cross Central Pennsylvania Region started a new service last week to the Armed Forces program entitled Operation: Stronger Together by sending out boxes of donated Middleswarth Potato Chips to military overseas. Hudock Capital Group partnered with Middleswarth to support the efforts. The first shipment went out on Aug. 4 from the Middleswarth Potato Chip factory in Middleburg. “What I love about it is that it’s individual. We aren’t sending it to a warehouse some place… I watched them loading it onto the truck,” said Barbara Hudock, CEO of Hudock Capital Group. “They had barbecue and plain potato chips. They were sending them directly to the military base in Iraq.” The new program lets the Red Cross Central Pennsylvania Region act as a “sister chapter” to the Red Cross in Baghdad. The idea is to send a taste of home, like home-town chips from Central Pennsylvania, to those who are missing home overseas while serving in the Armed Forces. “It’s such a personalized way to reach out. I met someone yesterday who was telling me about their son, when he comes home (from serving), the first thing he wants is Middleswarth potato chips,” Hudock said. “It’s touching them in a way you can’t do with money.”

With the program being brand new, they hope to expand. “We are the first to adopt a sister chapter overseas,” Sims said. “There are so many people who want to help, and they don’t know how to. We’re just trying to help and make that happen.”