Operation Bubby's Buddies

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Operation Bubby's Buddies

Operation Bubby’s Buddies is a family-based nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting deployed military members.

Our mission is to ensure no service member feels forgotten or unloved while away from their families.

08/21/2026

Well…this escalated quickly.

I went to Walmart looking for Needohs (IYKYK) and came home with 25 games for Operation Bubby’s Buddies!

$156 total. That’s about $6.24 a game!

These will be making their way into care packages for our deployed service members.

I LOVE finding clearance deals like this because it lets us stretch every donation a little further and send even more goodies in those boxes.

So…if you were wondering what 25 clearance games look like in the back of a van…here ya go.

One clearance aisle at a time.
One care package at a time.

Thank you for helping us keep Bubby’s Buddies going!

08/05/2026

WOW WEDNESDAY!

WOW. Just WOW.

We are once again blown away by the generosity of our community!

A HUGE thank you to Celina Eagles Grand Lake Aerie 1291 for another incredibly generous donation to Operation Bubby’s Buddies.

Because of supporters like you, we can continue filling care packages with a little bit of home and sending them to our deployed service members.

Every box we send carries more than just snacks and goodies. It carries a reminder that someone back home cares, someone remembers, and someone is cheering them on.

We are so incredibly grateful for organizations like the Celina Eagles who continue to believe in our mission and stand behind our troops.

Thank you for helping us keep the mission going! ❤️🇺🇸

Small town hearts. Bigger purpose.

~Heidi
Operation Bubby's Buddies

07/29/2026

WOW Wednesday!

Well, our hearts are full once again.

We received another incredibly generous donation from Celina Moose Lodge #1473, and we're just so thankful. Every time our community rallies behind Operation Bubby's Buddies, we're reminded that we don't do this alone.

Your support helps us fill boxes with snacks, necessities, and little reminders of home for our deployed military members. More importantly, it sends a message that complete strangers back home are thinking of them and are grateful for their service.

To our friends at the Moose—thank you for believing in our mission year after year. Your generosity is helping us make a difference, one care package at a time.

Small towns really do have the biggest hearts. ❤️

07/28/2026

✨ Operation Bubby's Buddies — Memory Lane ✨

2025 broke every record we had ever set.

And it wasn't because of us...

It was because of YOU.

This was the year our community embraced Operation Bubby's Buddies like never before.

For the first time, we received generous support from organizations including the Celina Eagles, The Moose, and a local bank that selected Operation Bubby's Buddies as the recipient of its monthly community donations.

Every donation, every business, every family, and every volunteer became part of something much bigger than themselves.

Together, we packed and shipped 39 care packages to deployed service members around the world.

Looking back to those first 100 Christmas cards in 2016, we never could have imagined where this journey would lead.

The incredible support we received in 2025 made one thing abundantly clear:

Operation Bubby's Buddies had outgrown our kitchen table, our spare rooms, and even our family.

It had become a true community mission.

That realization inspired us to begin the process of becoming an official 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, ensuring this mission can continue serving those who serve us for many years to come.

From 100 Christmas cards...
to 39 care packages...
to an entire community standing behind one mission.

Thank you for believing in us.

The best is still yet to come.

07/21/2026

✨ Operation Bubby's Buddies — Memory Lane ✨

2024 was the year we truly witnessed the power of community.

For the first time, our family had the opportunity to share the story of Operation Bubby's Buddies with the Grand Lake Rotary Club during their Christmas gathering. Having Triston there to tell his own deployment experiences made the evening even more meaningful. It reminded everyone that behind every care package is a real person serving far from home.

Then something incredible happened...

One day, someone quietly left a HUGE donation on our front porch. They didn't knock. They didn't ring the doorbell. They simply wanted to bless our mission without expecting any recognition.

Acts of kindness like that remind us there are truly amazing people in this community.

Another incredible blessing came when someone generously covered the cost of all of our shopping for the care packages. And when it came time to mail everything, Ryan and Lee Hawkey Copeland stepped in and covered the majority of our shipping costs.

Because of so many generous hearts, we packed and shipped 38 care packages filled with 2,389 items to deployed Servicemen.

Every snack, every necessity, every handwritten note represented one simple message:

You are appreciated. You are remembered. You are not alone.

As we looked around at everything our community had accomplished together, we realized something...

Operation Bubby's Buddies had become so much bigger than our family.

Little did we know... our biggest year was still waiting for us.

07/14/2026

✨ Operation Bubby's Buddies — Memory Lane ✨

2023 was the year everything changed.

It was the year our mission officially became Operation Bubby's Buddies.

Our church selected us as the Vacation Bible School mission, and for the first time, we had the opportunity to stand in front of hundreds of children and families to share our story.

The theme that year was Superheroes.

Kynlee and I wore matching camouflage capes all week because, to us, our deployed military members are everyday heroes.

That year, we shipped around 25 care packages, but something else began that has become one of my favorite traditions.

Our Giving Tree.

Every November, our patriotic tree goes up in my office, decorated in red, white, and blue. As donations come in, I handwrite each donor's name on a reusable ornament and hang it on the tree.

Watching those ornaments multiply throughout the season is one of my favorite reminders that Operation Bubby's Buddies isn't just our mission anymore...

It belongs to an entire community.

Little by little, hearts—and our Giving Tree—kept growing.

07/07/2026

✨ Operation Bubby's Buddies — Memory Lane ✨

2022 brought another change.

Our son, Triston, had just moved across the world to a new duty station, giving us another reminder of just how far "home" can feel.

For some reason, that year our care packages seemed to get BIGGER instead of more numerous.

Sometimes it's not about the box count... it's about filling each one with as much comfort, encouragement, and love as possible.

No matter where our service members were stationed, we wanted them to open each package and feel like a little piece of home had found its way to them.

Every year teaches us something new.

And every year, this mission continued to grow.

07/04/2026

🇺🇸 Happy 250th Birthday, America! 🇺🇸

Today we celebrate 250 years of freedom, courage, and the incredible spirit that makes our nation strong.

As we gather with family, enjoy cookouts, watch fireworks, and make memories, let's also take a moment to remember the men and women serving our country around the world. While many of us are celebrating together, countless military members are standing watch, working long shifts, or spending this holiday far from the people they love.

To every service member, veteran, and military family: **thank you.** Your sacrifice makes our celebrations possible.

From all of us at **Operation Bubby's Buddies**, we wish you and your family a safe, joyful, and meaningful Independence Day. May we never take for granted the freedoms we enjoy or the heroes who protect them every single day.

❤️🤍💙 Happy 250th Independence Day, America.

07/01/2026

✨ Operation Bubby's Buddies — Memory Lane ✨

After shipping 20 boxes in 2020, we honestly wondered if we had reached our limit.

Then came 2021.

With the continued support of family, friends, and our community, we packed and shipped 15 care packages to deployed Airmen.

The number may have been smaller than the year before, but our mission hadn't changed.

Every box still carried snacks, necessities, holiday cheer, handwritten notes, and a reminder that someone back home was thinking about them.

One lesson we've learned over the years is that success isn't measured by how many boxes we send—it's measured by the smiles they bring when they arrive.

And that has always been enough.

Little did we know... our biggest years were still ahead.

06/24/2026

✨ Operation Bubby’s Buddies — Memory Lane ✨

By 2020, we honestly thought we had gotten as big as we possibly could.

That year, we packed and shipped TWENTY care packages overseas.

Twenty boxes filled with snacks, necessities, holiday cheer, games, letters, and reminders from home.

And if you’ve ever shipped even ONE military package internationally… you know what comes next:

CUSTOMS FORMS.

Stacks and stacks of them.

Thankfully, our local post office angel, Deb, was an absolute ROCKSTAR through all of it. She helped keep us organized, encouraged us, and somehow survived the mountain of paperwork every year.

Looking back now, 20 boxes felt HUGE at the time. We were overwhelmed, grateful, emotional, exhausted… and so incredibly supported by our community.

What started with 100 Christmas cards had grown into something we never imagined.

Address

Celina, OH
45822

Website

http://www.operationbubbysbuddies.org/

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