First Recipe

Here's the first recipe contributed by Tanya. She's been a busy gal lately hasn't she? I can't WAIT to try it! I wonder how many points this is on Weight Watchers? Good thing it's for the Marines and not me!

Chocolate Fudge Recipe

4 & 1/2 Cups Sugar

1 Large Can evaporated milk

1 - 10 oz package marshmallows (miniature works best)

1 - 12 oz package chocolate chips

5 ounces of Hershey candy (Buy the big bar and break the squares off, in the one pound bar each square is approximately one ounce)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups chopped nuts if desired.

Very lightly butter a large sheet cake pan and set off to the side.

Cook the sugar and evaporated milk in a large sauce pan for 4 & 1/2 minutes after it comes to a boil - stirring constantly. Have someone watch the clock as this cook time is very important.

When the 4 & 1/2 minutes boiling time is up, immediately add the remaining ingredients and stir constantly until all the marshmallows and chocolate is melted and you have a smooth texture to your mix. You will have to work fast as the mixture begins to cool as soon as you add the other parts.

Pour into the sheet pan and let spread out over the entire bottom of the pan and cool. After about 20 minutes you can score the top of the candy about 1/8" deep. Score it in about 1 inch square pieces. This will help with cutting it later. After about an hour you can go back and cut it all the way through with a warm knife.

Line the bottom of an airtight container with wax paper and place a layer of cut fudge pieces on the bottom of the container, separate each layer of fudge pieces with another layer of wax paper to prevent the fudge from sticking to the other layers. If you want to wrap the pieces of fudge individually the new press and seal paper that is out works wonders and is easy to use.

This recipe was used during WWII to send fudge to the soldiers in their care packages. Enjoy!

Radio and Reminders

Our treasurer, Tanya, will be on the radio THIS morning at 10:30. She will be on Power 106 FM, so be sure and listen!

Also I want to remind everyone about our list of items needed and drop off locations. You can click to your right on the post titled "Christmas Care Packs" for more details and I will post the drop off locations again for you. They are:

Open Air MRI: 3720 20th Street
Marine Recruiter's Office: 5102 60th Street Ste. D (next to CiCi's Pizza)
Elks Lodge: 3409 Milwaukee (34th and Milwaukee)
All 4 locations of Body Works

Remember that $30 will fill a box!

Edited to add: She TAPED the interview this morning. It will actually air tomorrow the 31st at 1:00p.m.

How we got our start

I thought there might be some who would like to know how our group came about. We got our start in September of 2004. Two moms, one whose son had recently been injured in Iraq, and one whose son had recently left for bootcamp, started desperately searching the internet hoping to find another local mom to talk to. They were thrilled to find each other on a Marine Parents message board and made plans to meet for lunch. After a long lunch with plenty of laughter and tears they knew they needed to reach out to other parents who must surely be feeling the same way. They were soon joined by a third mom (also found on the message board) and then another and on it went.

Soon we decided to send some care packages to Iraq so that not only our own children, but others who were serving our country would know that they are loved and appreciated. The first mail out (with only 3 members at the time) was completely out of our own pockets. We sent 10 packages. Every few months we had more members and more friends to help and we sent out a little larger mail out. Soon we realized that we needed to become a formal support group, so we organized, elected officers, adopted bylaws and became a non-profit organization so that we could begin fundraising. This past Christmas (2005) we sent over 65 packages. We also sent a Valentine mail out and an Easter mail out. The Valentine mail out was sent to an Army chaplain so that he could distribute the packages to those who needed them most. Much of our shipping costs are paid for by the bracelets we sold at the 4th on Broadway Street Fair and the Wolfforth Harvest Festival, but money for shipping continues to be our biggest need. We feel that sending these care packages is just a small way to honor the men and women who sacrifice and endure so much so that our freedom is preserved. We are so very proud of each and every one of them!

"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem."
-President Ronald Reagan, 1985

Our Mission

The mission of Lubbock Marine Parents is to provide loving emotional and spiritual support and encouragement to the parents, families, loved ones and friends of active duty or retired Marines, recruits, and poolees.

*We do not address political issues at our meetings.
*We do allow freedom of spiritual proclamations, support, and prayer.
*We do believe in God, Family, Country and the United States Marine Corps.
*We are always faithful to the United States Marine Corps and our Marines.
*Thank you for your prayers and support of all our military as they serve our country!

Packing Day!

If anyone is interested, November 19th is our packing day for our Christmas boxes. I'm sure we can use all the help we can get. To the left is a picture of all the boxes we sent out last Christmas and we plan to more than double that amount this year! Just let us know if you would like to help.

"It's so nice to get packages/letters from people back home. Know that what you are doing is huge to keep us motivated and confident that we're greatly appreciated and thought of back home.

Sincerely,
C.S. Benfield"
Capt. USMC Tactics

Christmas Care Packs

Here are the drop off locations for care pack items:
**Check edit at the end of this post***

Open Air MRI 3720 20th St.
Marine Recruiter's Office 5102 60th Street STE. D
Elks Lodge 3409 Milwaukee (34th and Milwaukee)
All four locations of Body Works

The following items are requested:

Toiletries and General:
Q-tips (individual packs)
Individual baby wipe packs
Toothbrushes/toothpaste
Vitamins
Chap Stick
Black Socks (thick, calf length)
Deodorant
Individual Tissue Packs
Disposable Razors
Hand Warmers
Advil/Tylenol (individual packs)
Cards/Board games/Puzzles
DVDs (new or used)
Music CDs (new or used)
Magazines
Letter or cards of encouragement!

Food Items:

Can Soup (pull top lids)
Can Chips
Beef Jerky
Breakfast Bars
Granola Bars
Peanuts
Hard Candy
Sunflower Seeds
Poptarts
Gum
Gummy Candies
Juice Mixes (individual packs)
Hot Chocolate
Microwave Popcorn
Easy Mac and Dinty Moore

$30 will fill a box!

***Monetary donations to help with the cost of postage are appreciated! You can donate through Paypal by clicking on the "Donate" button in the sidebar.

***Edited to add:We have already sent off our Christmas boxes and the only drop off location still accepting items is the recruiter's office. We are already looking ahead to a Valentine's Day mail out and we would love your help with that. We will continue to collect items for care pack mail outs throughout the year. This is a year round effort. If you have any questions, please email me at semperfimomx2@yahoo.com. Thank you!

Our New Blog!

Welcome to the Lubbock Marine Parents blog! This is our first post. We are a support group for parents and families of United States Marines. We are currently gathering donations for our Christmas Care Pack Drive. We hope to gather enough items for 200 packages. Our deadline for gathering items is November 15th. More info about needed items to follow.