Service: Cards For Soldiers

Two Fridays ago my friends Delvonna and Allison came over, with their littles, for a morning of craft/service. We had decided to make Christmas cards for Soldiers that are deployed to the Middle East. We started out by having the kids make a dough-nut. This is how we did it:

1 tube of regerated biscuit dough
powdered sugar
deep fryer or frying pan with canola/vegetable oil

Heat up your oil to about 350. Take a biscuit and shape it the way you like it. Some of the kids did circles, some did snakes, you could even use cookie cutters. Once their doughnuts were shaped to their satisfaction, I fried them. Fry them long enough to turn light brown on each side. About 1 to 2 minutes. Once you pull them out of the oil, place them on a plate, lined with paper towels, and sprinkle with powdered sugar. The powdered sugar will melt on the dough-nut and create a glaze. These are so yummy. You could also use frosting. This is the simplest fried dough recipe I have seen. It is a favorite of ours. Great for breakfast or as a dinner side dish with butter and honey:> Also very inexpensive as well. Smiths sells a four pack of biscuit tubes for under 3 dollars.

 

After everyone's bellies were full of some sugary goodness we watched a video I had made. It is a compilation of pictures of Iraq and soldiers in Iraq (my hubby included). We wanted the children to actually see where these cards were going to go. We wanted them to see that there are places much different then our own hometowns.

After the video we had the kids make their cards. We had decided to have 2 types of cards the kids could make. They were both Christmas cards. We wanted to have a little bit of order. This helped the children a lot. They were able to go off some cards we had made prior to the activity. It was so sweet to see, the girls especially, put so much thought into each card. Some even made special notes to put inside for the soldiers. I think this turned out to be a fun activity for all. Even us Mom's tried our hands at the cards. We mailed our cards into Cards For Soldiers . They then will put each card into an envelope and send it to an awaiting soldier. To find out more please read below:>

All of this information comes directly from the Cards For Soldiers Blog.

The Purpose:

"Started by the Faculty at www-123.scrap.com to support our troops deployed to the Middle East, we send handmade, blank cards to deployed units for the soldiers to use to write to family and friends. It's been a big hit with the soldiers!"

Card Specifications:

"All cards should be A2 size (one half of an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet, folded in half), as we have envelopes donated for our Program. If you make a larger card please be sure to clip an envelope that fits with it. Please remember to leave the cards blank on the inside, with a self-stick note from you (or your child) to the soldier if desired. You are also more than welcome to put your signature on the back of the card to let them know who made it.

Cards should not be too bulky as they need to fit inside the envelopes we provide. The most important requirement is NO GLITTER please!! Glitter falls off and can stick to the soldiers and make them shine at night when they are trying not to be seen!

General Occasion cards are ALWAYS welcome with any of the rounds, including Birthday, Miss You, Thank You, etc."

Deadlines:

"ROUND 8: Cards should be received by October 14, 2010
Veteran's Day (please write a note to a soldier in each card)


ROUND 9: Cards should be received by November 5, 2010
(NOTE: due to the timing of holidays, this deadline comes up fairly soon after the previous deadline, so just be aware it might sneak up on you!)
Christmas
Hanukkah
Kwanzaa
New Years"


All of this information can be found on their blog along with the address where to send  your finished cards. They provide the envelopes for the cards, if they are a standard size.

Hope you guys are able to do a little good today and Have a Happy Monday!