Vietnam veteran bakes a difference in Southwest Florida

Can you imagine 600,000 cookies?

A local veteran has made even more than that.

This is how ‘Uncle Charlie’ Kellenberger tells you that you are loved. It is with something sweet.

“I use a small melon scooper that will give you a 2-inch cookie,” Kellenberger said.

They are cookies he starts baking before sunrise. These batches are just a small portion of his efforts. Now, totaling a whopping 653,000.

The Vietnam veteran said he had made hundreds of thousands of treats from scratch to be of service.

“I had the leg amputated,” Kellenberger said, “and this is the only thing I can do really in a wheelchair.”

The idea came to Kellenberger after Hurricane Charley devastated Southwest Florida.

“I said I gotta do something for the first responders taking care of us survivors,” Kellenberger said. “What can I do? And I remembered as a kid I loved to follow my mom baking.”

Now, he is on a mission to sweeten the world. Some will go to the Salvation Army, the soup kitchen, various hospital.

“The VA,” Kellenberger said, “probably 150,000+ cookies. I want to serve.”

He is serving you a cookie and this message: “Don’t forget, I’m Uncle Charlie and I love you.”