Fabulous Army Life

Okay, okay, so it wasn't really a party ... but we did have a good time! Our volunteers gathered at the battalion headquarters to load gift baskets and transport them to the temporary barracks where our Soldiers will be returning. In each room, we did a little minor cleaning, made beds, placed gift baskets, and prepared the rooms for the Soldiers' return. It was freezing cold and we were traipsing up three flights of stairs in two different buildings to make it happen, but our volunteers were fabulous. We finished in record time and are so happy to have prepared these rooms for our heroes.  Welcome Home, Red Dragons! Fabulous volunteers ready to make up single Soldier rooms! My adorable nieces came to help the Soldiers.  Here, they look out over the Motor Pools and say, "That's a lot of Army stuff."  =)  Love them! Our note to the Soldiers ... Welcome Home, Heroes! Beds made and gift basket prepared. Hand towels, wash cloths, hand soap are in p...

Phase III of our Single Soldier project consisted of taking all the goodies that have been donated and purchased and organizing them into gift baskets. We had a great group of volunteers throughout the day helping with this gargantuan task. BIG thanks to Elena, Christine, Annmarie, Kimberly, Valencia, Georgia, Beverly, Katie, Lani, Victoria, Nina, Leslie, and Debbie for all the amazing progress today! Some super ladies worked hard today to prepare for this redeployment.  I'm SO very appreciative of everyone who came out to help today! We started an assembly line for creating the single Soldier 'welcome home' baskets.  It was a fine-tuned machine by the end of the day ... and we ended up with 181 assembled baskets! The assembly line starts with a laundry basket, welcome home poster, and a Ziploc with a few paper goods -- paper plates, cups, and plastic ware. Next, they get a bath towel and a package of Wet Ones wet wipes. Adding hand towels, wash cloths...

Phase II of our single Soldier project consisted of shopping for the items needed for our baskets using the funds donated by our Families for this project.  Today, six ladies spent six hours going to six different stores to purchase items for 181 Soldiers. It was great fun and we can't wait to get baskets assembled for these heroes! *One funny note ... when I told a friend we were shopping for single Soldiers, she said, "That's what I used to do before I met my (Soldier) husband!" ;) Here is our group at Sam's Club where we made great progress toward getting yummy snacks for our Soldiers! Clearing the shelves at Dollar Tree #3 Counting towels ... we cleared most colors and went home with 181 towels! Piling into four shopping carts Counting wash cloths and hand towels. Keeping running totals is important! Dish detergents for each barracks room Time to check out!  Walmart even offered a 10% discount, saving us about $100.00

There are so many exciting things happening with Soldiers get ready to come home from a deployment. One of the projects our FRG has taken on is providing gift baskets for every single Soldier returning to a barracks room. When they arrive, exhausted from a long flight and even longer deployment, we want them to feel a warm welcome home. Since they aren't allowed to drive for the first day or so (and many can't get to their stored vehicles anyway), we wanted them to have a few survival items and some yummy snacks to get through those first days home. Phase I of this project is fundraising.  Because this is for a specific group within our FRG (only single Soldiers), we needed to raise funds for this specific project.  Our answer (taken from several other groups at Fort Hood who have hosted similar projects) was to have a "Sponsor a Single Soldier" fundraiser.  Our unit Families were invited to sponsor a basket for $35.00 or donate items to be placed in the baskets.  ...