459th sends holiday care packages to deployed Airmen Published Dec. 14, 2015 By Staff Sgt. Tiffany Lindemann 459th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs JOINT BASE ANDREWS, Md. -- Airmen at the 459th Air Refueling Wing are stepping up to ensure deployed personnel are taken care of this holiday season. With several Airmen from across the Wing currently deployed around the world, the 459th family is showing their support for their deployed brothers and sisters in arms. Second Lt. Ola Ayodeji, the wing process manager from the 459 ARW who is helping collect items for numerous deployed Airmen in the 459th Mission Operations Group, says his office loves to take care of their people whether they are at home station or deployed. "Some people just want candy, a magazine, or maybe a certain flavor of Starbucks," said Ayodeji. "We just want to send a memento from home so they know they are remembered." In recent years, volunteer services for deployed service members from nonprofit organizations have been reduced due to troop draw down in war zones, according to a recent American Red Cross report. Due to the depletion in services, it's Airmen who are relied on to show support for their deployed counterparts now more than ever. Other units around base are also participating in gathering items to send overseas. The 459th public affairs office is sending a package for their colleague who has a wife and two kids at home. "It's always a rough time to be deployed during the holidays," said 2nd Lt. Katie Spencer, the public affairs officer at the 459 ARW. "[He] has two little girls at home who I know would love to have their dad there. Hopefully this care package will bring a little holiday spirit to him." Contact unit first sergeants for more information on how to send care packages to deployed members in the wing.