Over the years Robin Weunski has used her Pittsburgh Inn as a collection point for goods and cash that she turns into care packages for troops overseas.
Soap, wet wipes, foot powder, even bug traps are welcome in what often is inhospitable country with few creature comforts nearby.
She has sent 648 boxes to troops in harm's way in her time.
"648 and counting," she says.
But this year's collection is bittersweet for Robin. One of her soldiers, Staff Sgt. Eric S. Holman was killed by an explosive device just weeks from being rotated out.
He was carrying a lucky coin that Robin had sent overseas and had been brought back six times.
The Support Our Troops collection officially begins Saturday, but supplies are already filling up a collection barrel by the restaurant's fireplace. The collections runs from the 8th through the 16th, and everyone who donates becomes eligible for one of three gift baskets Robin put together, plus an appetizer from the restaurant too.
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