CSX Sends a Taste of Home to the Troops

In early spring, CSX and its Military Affinity Group launched their third annual Operation Cookie Drop. Working closely with the Jacksonville Gateway Council Girl Scouts, the drive collected money to buy, pack and distribute Girl Scout cookies to service members in Iraq and Afghanistan. The response to the drive was tremendous, breaking the previous year's record. Money donations alone were 114 percent higher.

In recent years, CSX has handled more rail shipments of military goods for deployments and redeployments domestically and overseas than any other Class I railroad.

Now that the cookies have been distributed, thank you messages are funneling in from the troops. Said Staff Sergeant Randall S. Hughes, "It's amazing how small things can mean so much to soldiers. Just to know we have people thinking of us is enough alone to give us the motivation to keep pushing forward. The cookies were great. I split them up amongst the guys and we usually take them out on the missions that we know are going to be long."

The cookie drive is just one more way that CSX demonstrates its strong support of the military. In recent years, CSX has handled more rail shipments of military goods for deployments and redeployments domestically and overseas than any other Class I railroad. CSX is also a supporter of the Wounded Warrior Project, helping injured military personnel in their transition back to civilian life. Since 2006, GI Jobs Magazine has named CSX among its Top 50 in hiring military veterans, and most recently in the top 10 on that list. The company actively recruits members of the military for all departments and at all levels. Last year approximately 30 percent of new hires were recruited from the military. Overall, one in five CSX employees has served in the military.