Ready, Set... BAKE!

Once again, you have a mission (please accept it!): Brighten the day of a soldier serving overseas. Our soldier for Round 7, Jennifer, is on the other side of the world, and she's had some rough times lately. And you can help cheer her up.

How? Well, it's simple. Packages from home. From YOU.

If you're a regular reader, you probably remember my post about Operation Baking Gals in December. And then you probably remember the post about Round 6 in February. Well, now Round 7 is officially upon us, and we need to get started. So many of you participated last time, and I'm hoping you'll all be willing to do it again.

There is a new organizer over at www.bakinggals.com, and for some reason, she wouldn't let me have two teams this round. So I guess that means Jennifer will be receiving a LOT of packages, right? RIGHT?? :) Once again, I hope you'll knock my socks off with your willingness to help our "Heather Drive" soldier.

All you have to do is go to www.bakinggals.com, sign in (or create an account if you don't have one--so easy, it's free, and you won't get spammed by a ton of e-mails, either), and then register with Team Heather Drive - Rossin. You'll do this by clicking on "Join a Round 7 Team Here" (you must be signed in to do this).

You will find the shipping address information for our soldier under "Round Seven Info - Meet the Teams." There is an article in there for our team that contains details about our soldier, her story, and the address for where to ship your packages.

DON'T BAKE? No TIME to bake? Well, that's NO EXCUSE. :) There are plenty of store-bought things that the soldiers can use and enjoy. Please visit the Baking Gals FAQ section for a list of acceptable items to send.

Ship dates for Round 7 are April 1 through April 10, so you can basically bake and send starting this weekend. So preheat those ovens and start whipping together those baked goods!

Be sure to include a bit of "yourself" in your packages as well. Cards, letters, pictures... anything that will give Jennifer a little bit of an idea of who you are, and let her know how thankful you are for the sacrifice she is making for all of us. You may even want to include a link to your blog, or an e-mail address. Last round, I know some people received e-mails from the soldiers they baked for!

If you are baking, there is important information for you in the FAQ section, too, including tips on how to ensure that your baked goods get there in good condition. Additional info about the organization and my experience with it so far can be found in my original post from December.

Remember, the best thing to use is a large Flat Rate box from USPS. You should be able to pick one up at your local post office (the box is free). Take it home, pack it full of as many goodies as possible, and then take it back to mail it. You'll get a discounted rate for sending it to an APO/FPO address. Normally, it costs $12.95, and I think it's $10.95 to send to the soldiers.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. E-mail me at roadtotheaisle@gmail.com, or leave a message in the comments. If you do that, though, just make sure to check back, because I will answer you in the comments as well.

Also, if you participate, I want to hear about it! If you have a blog, post about your experience--Pictures of your baking, you with your package, etc., maybe post the recipe for the goodies you made. Then send me a link to your Baking Gals blog post, or leave a link in my comments section. Only one or two people did this for me last time, so it wasn't too much of a success, but if I get a big enough response, I'd like to compile everyone's pictures and stories and post about them later in April.

So come on, baking gals! Get baking! :) And thank you so much!