Operation Baking Gals

That special project that I mentioned the gingerbread cookies were a part of? This is it.

Operation Baking Gals.

Later today, this package will be shipped out. Wayyyy out. All the way to Afghanistan. It will be delivered to a soldier who is unable to celebrate the holidays with his wife and baby boy this year. He has been serving our country overseas since June.

I became involved with this project through Melissa over at Hot Stuff in the Kitchen. Melissa was a fellow June 21 bride, so we've "known" each other for a while now. A few weeks ago, before Thanksgiving, she e-mailed me and asked if I would like to be a member of her Baking Gals team.

I immediately agreed. As you're all probably aware by now, I love to bake, and I can't think of a better cause to bake for. Our soldier, Brian (aka "Bubba") will receive at least 10 packages of goodies from our team. A little piece of home and the holidays that he will be able to share with his soldier buddies.

I took this on as another one of my "give back" activities. Whether or not you agree with the war, these guys are still over there for us while we get to stay here safely with our friends and family.

Brian will be receiving about a dozen pumpkin cookies, as well as more than a dozen gingerbread cookies. I also included baggies of animal crackers. I'm hoping everything makes it all the way to the Middle East in a state that is still edible. Here's hoping. I double wrapped everything, and also used a little trick from the Baking Gals website, including pieces of apple peel in the bags to keep stuff fresh. I'm crossing my fingers that it works.

We were encouraged to write letters about ourselves and include pictures, blog and e-mail addresses, etc. So I typed up a little page about myself and my family, including a few pictures. I also enclosed a handwritten holiday card, thanking Brian for the sacrifices he has made for all of us here at home.

We're also supposed to take pictures of ourselves with our boxes to share with the Baking Gals site. So that's what you see above.

Today, I will go to the post office and pay just $10.95 to send Brian his sweet treats. As it turns out, all you have to do to ship this stuff is go pick up a large, flat rate Priority Mail box from USPS. I got it at one of my local post offices. You can put as much crap as you can possibly fit in there, and it'll still only cost $10.95. It regularly costs $12.95, but they give a discount if you are sending it to an APO/FPO (military) address.

OK, so now onto the next thing. Guess what? Operation Baking Gals isn't just a holiday project. It runs all year round. So this is what I want to do: I want to start a team! It'll be my first time as a Team Leader/Host.

I've been told by Susan, the Operation Baking Gals founder/coordinator, that the next round of shipping will likely be between January 30 and February 9. You can send your package anytime during this time period. The goal is to have the soldiers receive their boxes in time for Valentine's Day.

You have to sign up for a team to participate in Operation Baking Gals, and I'd love for as many readers as possible to join me. The Round 6 (Valentine's Day) sign-up isn't available yet, and probably won't be for several more weeks. I'll be sure to post the information here once it is available so that anyone who is interested can sign up. In the meantime, if you are interested, can you please leave a comment so that I can get a feel for how many people I'm going to have?

Oh, and also--don't bake? Don't worry. You don't have to bake to participate. As you can imagine, there are a lot of things from home that the soldiers appreciate having. There is a long list of store-bought stuff that is appropriate for sending. If that's up your alley, you can sign up, too. You'll get all of the info about what types of things to send once we're prepping for the next round.

Lastly, and most importantly... I'm putting out a call for a soldier. I'm lucky to not have anyone I know and love deployed (at least not right now). As a result, I don't have an automatic choice for a soldier to send our baked goods to. But I know--from some of the blog comments I've received in the past--many of you do have loved ones over there. If you do, and you'd like me to consider him or her as our team's soldier, please leave a comment or e-mail me directly at roadtotheaisle@gmail.com. Tell me how you know them, how long they've been gone, and anything else that you think I'd like to know about this person.

If I receive more than one request, it's not a problem. I plan to continue participating as a Team Leader/Host in Operation Baking Gals for every round moving forward. So if we can't bake for your girl/guy this time, I'll be sure to try to get them in for a subsequent round. Sound good? Oh, but one important thing to note--you must have an APO/FPO address for this soldier. We need to be able to make sure our packages are going to arrive where intended!

So, please consider joining me. And again, if you do want to join me, please leave a comment that you're interested in Round 6.