Angels of Blue Published Jan. 17, 2008 By Col. Babette Lenfant 27th Special Operations Mission Support Group commander CANNON AIR FORCE BASE -- The Air Force and all of the U.S. military services have been known for giving back to their surrounding communities, and this holiday season Airman from Cannon continued that tradition. As in the past, the Airman and Family Readiness Center coordinated with a local children's organization to determine how the base could best help. This year the Angels in Blue decided to assist with making the holidays brighter for children at the New Mexico Baptist Children's Home in Portales, N.M. Amy Pata, wife of Maj. Rob Pata, 27th Special Operations Logistics Readiness Squadron commander, made it all happen. From beginning to end, Pata organized the event. She collected the requests from the children's home, set up the Angel Tree of pink and blue angels with every child's interests outside the Base Exchange, collected, organized and wrapped the presents, and organized volunteers to assist with the distribution. More than 100 gifts were collected for the 28 children at the Baptist Children's Home and it took more than 20 Airman and family members to brave the slippery roads to go over to the children's home and distributed the gifts. It was a great event. The children put on a play and sang songs for all that attended. The gifts ranged from a bike to walkie talkies and clothes. It was great to see the children's faces. Thanks to all that participated in any way in the event and special thanks to Amy Pata for volunteering to lead this effort.