LINDA STEWART BALL

12:00 AM CST on Sunday, February 19, 2006

Linda Stewart Ball

The cases of free Starbucks coffee Staff Sgt. Frank Sarratt had been opening in Baghdad since Christmas were plentiful but puzzling.

Who sent them?

It wasn't until early February, when supplies were starting to run low, that the Plano soldier finally determined the unexpected gift's source.

Inside one of the last boxes was a giant stack of Thank You cards and letters from hundreds of children at Bettye Haun Elementary and Beaty Early Childhood schools in Plano. They sent the cards and coffee to lift the spirits of soldiers stationed in Iraq.

Mystery solved.

Although Sgt. Sarratt doesn't drink coffee, he gladly shared with all who do.

"I was touched by the cards," said the sergeant, who has been in Iraq, missing his wife and kids for about eight months. "I'm still reading those cards."

While home on a short leave Thursday, he dropped by Haun Elementary to express his appreciation on behalf of his unit, the 206th Broadcast Operations Detachment/American Forces Network, Iraq.

He showed about 380 school children a slide show depicting his comrades in Army fatigues drinking the java and enjoying their cards.

"American Soldier," Toby Keith's heartfelt country song, played as images of the children's greeting cards flashed across the giant screen. Decorated with flowers, hearts, flags and smiley faces, a recurrent theme ran through many of the cards: "You are in our daily prayers. God Bless You! God Bless America."

Sgt. Sarratt told the kids that their written encouragement to homesick soldiers is "a wonderful thing. ... Keep it up."

The coffee/card care package was created when Plano-based Share A Smile Foundation^{TM ®}, (the founders' children attend Haun Elementary) teamed up with the Starbucks store at Legacy Drive and the Dallas North Tollway. They collected about 1,200 pounds of coffee for overseas troops through a Share a Cup With a Soldier drive. To view photos from a card-making party at that Starbucks, visit www.shareasmilefoundation.org and click on Events and Media.