In 2009 when my husband was deployed he mentioned that there were a lot of servicemembers that did not get packages from anyone. That made me realize I had to do something. I started sending a lot of extra baked goods for him to give to those troops. Once Valentine's Day came along, I wanted to do something bigger, and more personal so I put together individual packages for about 30 troops with candy, treats and toys in gallon size Ziplock bags. A good friend of mine (Love you, Amy!) volunteered to help me as well, and together we sent out 36 total packages for the troops! Next came Easter and it grew from 30 troops at 1 camp to 150 troops at 5 camps! It is such a heartwarming thing to do. Just knowing that I can do something to make people smile makes my whole day!
I tried to make all of the home baked goods..brownies, cookies, breads and other treats myself until it got too big for me to do alone. For 100 troops we have to have 400 brownies, 400 cookies, 400 of all home made goods so that they all get at least 4 each.
Now I have a few people and organizations that volunteer to bake things. Then we go to Costco and make a LARGE purchase of items to include such as granola bars, drinks, peanuts and other things that they possibly cannot get overseas.
The Care Packages
We are often asked just how much our care packages cost. While the cost per care package is different from shipment to shipment, the only help we get is via personal donations. We do take donations for postage since it costs roughly $13 per box to send out and we send out 25 - 30 boxes each round. The latest shipment (12/07/11) saw 52 boxes shipped. If you’d like to donate, you can do it here. Each little bit helps! Our overhead costs are very, very low and are limited to what it costs to maintain our website, postage, materials (baking supplies, craft items, etc.). It costs roughly $10 per troop and we send to at least 200 troops. As of 12/7/2011, we’ve sent roughly 500 boxes of care packages. Inside each box is many smaller care packages; thus far, we’ve baked several thousand cookies with the help of folks like the Atlanta Bread Company, Center of Applied Technology’s Culinary Department, and the Huntsville Center for Technology. People also ask what they can do to help; if not making monetary donations, we certainly welcome in-kind donations as well, local businesses have donated toys and candy to help fill the care packages. Since the boxes are assembled and filled in bulk, I do most of the shopping at my local Costco, though some of our volunteers also use other stores and the ubiquitous post commissary.
