Long before the name appeared in Madison, the “Donut Dollies” were a familiar sight to American troops stationed in war zones.
During World War I, World War II, and the Vietnam War, women volunteers with the American Red Cross traveled to military bases and field hospitals to lift the spirits of service members. Rather than serving in combat roles, they delivered small comforts — coffee, donuts, games, and conversation — offering soldiers a reminder of home during some of the most difficult moments of war.
The nickname stuck, and decades later the spirit of those volunteers is alive and well in Madison, Alabama, where a group of women has adopted the same name while carrying forward the same mission of appreciation…