Operation Baking Gals: Cookies For The Troops
Baking Club Sends Care Packages of Baked Goods to Troops Overseas
Aug 29, 2008
Blogger Susan Whetzel of She's Becoming DoughMessTic needed help. Her cousin was serving his country in Iraq and needed some encouragement. Susan couldn't do all the baking alone so she sent out a plea to all her blogging friends over at Tuesdays With Dorie. What happened next was nothing short of a miracle!
Tuesdays With Dorie
Susan is a member of Tuesdays With Dorie, a group of over 250 bakers that are baking their way through Dorie Greenspan's book, Baking: From My Home To Yours. Once a week a different member chooses a recipe from the book and the results are posted to individual blogs. This group is Susan's extended internet family. The family of bloggers she turned to in time of need. They responded!
Operation Baking Gals (OPG) ~ How it all Began
Susan starts her story, "I have a cousin in the Army JAG Corp. He and his wife tried for a long time to have a baby, and finally did in January. The thing is, Daddy got shipped to Iraq in March for 15 months. I have been getting emails from him, all sad, all missing his wife and baby so much. He’s been reading my blog and knows that I bake now and has been hinting that he and the other members of his division could really use some sweet treats to “boost morale.”
She goes on to say, "Now, I fully intended to make a care package and load it as full as possible. The problem is, I simply don’t have enough hours in the day to bake 5 or 6 things for the troops, the Café, go to work, feed my family AND do chores. I can get one thing done, but how pathetic of a care package would that be?"
Susan continues, "So, I am looking for some volunteers. Could you maybe bake one thing, seal it up and ship it to him? If we all do this on the same day, maybe he’ll get them all about the same time. Imagine how happy all those homesick troops will be to have homemade goodies!! You can make anything you want...Cookies of all kinds, bars, even things like trail mix would work well.
If you would please let me know that you are up for the task by emailing me, I would SOOO appreciate it. I would hope that we could all get our packages ready by Tuesday & Wednesday. Then if you would be willing to take a picture of the baked good and email it to me, what I will do is make a big post on my blog linking your site and your sweet contribution next Wednesday. I think I will call it Operation Baking GALS (Give A Little Support) – and if it works out as well as I hope, perhaps we could continue sending things to different troops, especially to anyone who has a special family member serving our country."
In the end, Susan says, "Thanks for taking the time to hear me out. I really do appreciate it. And while we may not be Cheerleaders, I think this could be a really great morale boosting endeavor…don’t you??"
Operation Baking Gals in the News
Efforts like Susan's don't go unnoticed for very long. Supporting the troops usually attracts major media attention. Operation Baking Gals was no exception. Local newspapers, radio stations and large foodie websites nationwide are asking Susan and team members for interviews.
Among the media covering the story; Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.com, Roanoke Times, and WDBJ7 Roanoke News among others.
Desperately Seeking Susan?
Big blogging sites like Just Baking, Simple Daily Recipes, Tuesdays With Dorie and even Dorie Greenspan herself are sending their support by way of media coverage for the group as well!
Susan says in a recent post, "...and while Oprah still hasn't called, my regional newspaper did!" Could Oprah be Desperately Seeking Susan?
Operation Baking Gals Grows Exponentially
There was no way Susan could have known what would happen next. Within an hour she had 10 emails with offers to bake. Large groups, churches, organizations, etc, were spreading the news far and wide. At press time, there were 7 teams, each with approximately 25 or more bakers sending care packages to the troops. Given the current media coverage, Susan expects Operation Baking Gals to grow exponentially.
For more information, or to join Operation Baking Gals, check out the group's website.
Author granted permission to use story and excerpts by Susan Whetzel.
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