Heroes Waiting
for Adoption
Mothering the Troops
Soldiers' Angels and Bake Me a Wish joined forces with some of the original Ladies of Liberty to visit the original Lady of Liberty and help support other service members in New York City earlier this week.
Operation: Birthday Cake arrived in New York last Tuesday morning. With Mother's Day coming soon, visitors to Times Square were invited to "mother" a deployed American serviceman or woman by writing a note of encouragement and support. For their mothering, they received a tiny "Mother" cake from Bake Me a Wish.
Service members from the North Dakota National Guard who had been original recipients of support from Ladies of Liberty joined in the event, accompanied by their mothers or daughters. “It was Soldiers’ Angels honor to fly such amazing women from the Ladies of Liberty to participate in the first ‘Mothering Soldiers’ event. Their participation brought the event to another level of excellence and I look forward to this becoming an annual event in Times Square,” said Shelle Michaels, national communication director for Soldiers’ Angels and a North Dakota resident, who was joined by her teenage daughter.
In addition to the 5,000 cakes distributed in Times Square, another 5,000 cakes will be mailed to deployed service members along with the letters written by New Yorkers.“Being apart from family on Mother’s Day is always difficult; however we hope that with the help of Soldiers’ Angels Ladies of Liberty and Friends of Island Academy (a nonprofit that assisted with this event) we will bring some joy, a little ‘mothering,’ to our troops this Mother’s Day,” said Josh Kaye, Bake Me a Wish! president. “We are proud, especially during these tough economic times, that we can bring the ultimate comfort food to those who mother and to those who need moms.”
Bake Me a Wish and Soldiers' Angels have long been partners in helping stateside families and supporters of the troops send a taste of home to deployed service members through a variety of projects, including Operation Birthday Cake.
A businessman writes a letter to a Soldier serving overseas during “Operation: Birthday Cake” in Times Square on Tuesday. [photo and caption courtesy NDNG]
Left: Molly Willson, of Valley City, N.D., hands paper to a passerby in Times Square. The woman was one of 5,000 who wrote letters to deployed service members in a two-hour time period Tuesday morning. Each letter writer received a small Bake Me a Wish! cake and another 5,000 cakes are being mailed to deployed Soldiers with the letters. Willson traveled to New York City with her stepmother, Sgt. Amy Wieser Willson, of West Fargo, N.D., who deployed to Iraq with the North Dakota Army National Guard’s 141st Engineer Battalion. [photo and caption courtesy NDNG]
Right: Sgt. Vanessa Mozinski, a North Dakota Army National Guard Soldier who deployed with the 1-188th Air Defense Artillery, interacts with a New Yorker writing a letter to a Soldier during “Operation: Birthday Cake.” The nonprofit event in Times Square celebrated “mothering” America’s Soldiers by giving away 5,000 cakes to those who wrote letters to Soldiers serving overseas; another 5,000 cakes are being shipped to deployed service members with the letters. Mozinski traveled to New York with her mom, Gloria, for the event. Other female Soldiers who deployed with North Dakota units also traveled with either their mother or their daughter. [photo and caption courtesy NDNG]