Copper Country troops overseas will get a taste of home again: Hancock’s Legion auxiliary starts its holiday gift drive

HANCOCK — Service members from the Copper Country who can’t make it home for Christmas will again get a box of gifts that taste and look like home, thanks to the Alfred Erickson American Legion Post 186 Auxiliary in Hancock.

The auxiliary has launched Operation Copper Country Active Duty 2026, the sixth year of the project, TV6 reported. It asks people in Baraga, Houghton, Keweenaw and Ontonagon counties to buy and donate Copper Country items such as hats, candy, reading material and souvenirs, or to give money so the auxiliary can buy them. Each package also includes the auxiliary’s own themed sweatshirt.

“It’ll run through the month of November, and we like to get the packages out the first week of December, because a lot of them are going overseas, and we want to make sure that they get them by Christmastime,” auxiliary President Deborah Guilbault told TV6. “So, when they get the package, it is all items that will remind them of home.”

It keeps growing. The project sent 12 packages in its first year and more than 40 in 2024, The Keweenaw Report reported last year. Guilbault said the auxiliary sent 45 last year, and the number has grown each year.

How to add a service member. The auxiliary sends packages only when a service member’s family wants one, Guilbault said, so it relies on families to send in names and mailing addresses. Names are accepted right up to the end, and packages go out after the first week of December if more names arrive. “We don’t want to leave anyone out,” she said. Families can reach Guilbault at 906-281-1952 or auxiliarypost186@gmail.com.

Where to give. An item drop-off box is at Peterson Chiropractic and Nutrition, 424 Quincy St. in downtown Hancock. Names and donations can also be dropped off at the post, 1308 W. Quincy St. Cash donation containers are at businesses in Baraga, Hancock, Houghton, L’Anse, Tapiola and Twin Lakes, TV6 reported.

Students in Houghton High School’s Interact Club have collected items for the packages and helped spread the word since 2024, according to The Keweenaw Report. “The community is always so generous and so supportive of the veterans and our military,” Guilbault said.

Sources:
WLUC TV6, “American Legion auxiliary launches holiday gift drive for Copper Country active-duty troops,” Oct. 29, 2026 (sixth year, counties, items, timing, Guilbault quotes, 45 last year, drop-off sites, contact), https://www.uppermichiganssource.com/2026/10/29/american-legion-auxiliary-launches-holiday-gift-drive-copper-country-active-duty-troops/
The Keweenaw Report, “Veterans and students lead the community for Operation Copper Country Active Duty,” Nov. 7, 2025 (12 packages first year, 40-plus in 2024, Houghton High Interact Club), https://keweenawreport.com/2025/11/07/152506/
Photo: James Conkis, “Quincy Street Hancock Michigan 2020-1438.jpg,” Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped and color-adjusted, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Quincy_Street_Hancock_Michigan_2020-1438.jpg

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Tags: Houghton · Hancock · American Legion · Military · Copper Country · Holiday Giving