After a long absence from blogging...I am back! Have a little free time again, finally! Mark will be out of town for the next couple of weeks (*sniffers*), but I am hoping to not only get things done on the troop support front, but also in the weight loss and home preparation front. I'm going to have my hands full.
For the next few weeks I am buckling down and trying to accomplish a lot in our Adopt A US Soldier efforts. Mark and I have recently began a special project, after being contacted by a military wife. She expressed her concerns about our troops on the frontlines of Kandahar, Afghanistan. Her husband's battalion has built a coffee house which has recently been named "The First Cup." This establishment is a big morale booster for the troops at their location. It is serving as a central location where soldiers can pour a cup of coffee (or tea, hot chocolate, whatever their preference) and take a moment to relax and "get away." The way we see it, this is a great opportunity to help show those troops how much they are appreciated. We are arranging a mass collection of items to ship over to what we are going to consider, a trading post. All packages will be shipped to that specific location and made available to any soldiers in that battalion. While we are focusing on coffee, tea and hot cocoa, we are also welcoming many other items.
To further the success of Project Frontlines, I will continue a collection of items throughout my neighborhood. This consists of me leaving fliers at every door in hopes that they will like to participate by leaving a few items outside their front door. We have collected throughout about half of the neighborhood so far and have accumulated almost 20 boxes full of items. I am also contacting local and national coffee distributors or shops to see if they would be willing to donate some coffee to the cause. I have received two responses here locally and they are talking it over, keep your fingers crossed!
The second focus for the month of April is going to be an upcoming event here in Katy, Texas. The Home for the Holidays Spring Gift Market is a two day shopping event in which hundreds and even thousands of shoppers come out to visit booths full of crafts and other goodies. I will be manning a booth in which we are going to be handing out information on how you can adopt a soldier, as well as offering different military themed items. The types of things we will have available are paracord key chains, paracord bracelets, bows and one or two bra's. We will have an Army and/or Navy inspired bra that resembles their uniforms. These are always big with the military wives and girlfriends. I am hoping to also have a few other things available, perhaps aprons. I have always wanted to learn more about sewing and it would be a great opportunity to get some practice in, and hopefully gain some more funds for shipping.
Aside from the actual items we will have offered, I need to put something together in which we can display these items. From past experience, my advice to anyone manning a booth, keep your items upright and as visible as possible. In the past I have laid items out across the table and it results in a lot of the shoppers missing them. They see our banner and understand we are there to inform them, but unfortunately most people need more than that (which is okay!). I am going to be putting something together that the bracelets and items can hang from. It will also look more presentable!
Hobby Lobby trip is planned for tonight - hopefully I walk away with some really neat stuff, at a really neat price...updates to come!
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