Show notes
Samantha Baughman is from Murfreesboro, Tennessee and owns and operates Sammie B’s Sweets. She started Operation Cookie Takeover in 2013 when a friend, Natasha was deployed. Samantha and a few friends wanted to send her a little cookie love to show her they missed and supported her. They thought they would send ten to twelve dozen cookies, but Samantha said, “Cookiers have a tendency to go overboard” and before they knew what happened, they had 10,000 cookies pledged.
Natasha didn’t receive ten dozen cookies. Nope. She ended up organizing a huge event on base and helped pass out thousands of delicious cookies that you all sent. What better way for to show support by sending a box of beautiful cookies. The comfort of home, a few homemade cookies, and baked goods is a great place to start.
The first year they sent ten thousand cookies and within the last four years, they have sent over eighty-thousand cookies! If you’re not a cookie decorator, don’t worry. You can send chocolate chip cookies, brownies, or any kind of baked goods you want to send. Just send something amazing so the soldiers will know we support them, want them to stay safe, and are sending love their way.
During the podcast, Samantha tells us about an elementary school who worked together to send to send hundreds of cookies overseas. If you have kids in elementary school, you’re a teacher, have kids in scouts, on a sports team, or maybe even talk to your Sunday School Class you can organize a cookie takeover. All you have to do is ask! Don’t stop at baked goods. You can have the kids write letters or make cards to show them we are thinking of them. The troops will love it.
If you work with a large number of kids, it can get expensive shipping the cookies. Samantha said sometimes people want to help and show support, but don’t have time to bake. They’ll give money so you might be able to get a scholarship so everyone is involved in making sure the soldiers know how grateful we are for all the sacrifices they make. So don’t feel like you have to take all of this on by yourself. People want to help so more soldiers get cookies. How great is this!
Each year Operation Cookie Takeover has a theme and this year its Thanksgiving. You can also send patriotic, Christmas cookies, those cute little slice and baked cookies from the grocery store or other baked goods.
If you want to send cookies they will be shipped November 13th-November 17th. If you can’t ship cookies within those dates, don’t worry. Samantha has a backup plan so you can still participate. You’ll have one extra step, but you can still ship the cookies to let a soldier know you care. Send an email to Samantha and let her know you can’t make the shipping date and she’ll tell you what you need to do.
If you want to send cookies in November, visit the Operation Cookie Takeover Volunteer Sign Up page. Expect an email on November 9th or 10th which will contain the address of your soldier.
The spring event hasn’t been scheduled yet, but if you signup you’ll receive an email about one month before the cookies are due. The cookies need to be individually wrapped so soldiers can share with each other.
Operation Cookie Takeover:
If you need packaging, shipping information, printables, or info on a special box from the post office here’s where you’ll find it in the links:
Facebook
‘Submit A Soldier’
A printable flyer
Thank you, Leslie, at Gingerhead Cookies (Facebook) for helping Samantha organize things this year. I know she’s going to love all the help your giving her!
Bear hugs,
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