WANTED: A Full-Time Baker

Can we talk? I really need to vent here. I'm feeling the urge to yell, "BACK OFF!" at a couple of folks, but I know I won't actually do that, so maybe I can get it out of my system and off my chest here at Sanity Check. What better place, right?

I'm bombarded with fundraisers! Now let me clarify this for you... I happily support virtually any and all organizations in their fundraising campaigns on base. I understand how challenging it can be to raise funds. Been there, done that. It takes lots of volunteers to make a fundraiser successful and it's certainly not easy to drum up those volunteers. It seems the same core group of people in any organization are almost always the ones to volunteer every time a plea for help is made.

Living here in Mayberry, where the base population is quite small, you can imagine how difficult it can be to conduct a successful fundraiser. First of all, there isn't a huge pool of people from which to beg for help. And second, seemingly every organization is out raising money at the same time, so folks are "hit up" on a regular basis... hit up to support the organization by volunteering their time and/or purchasing whatever they're peddling. I can only speak for myself here, but frankly, I'm experiencing a serious form of volunteer burnout.

Allow me to make a point, if you will...

In less than a 2-week timespan, I have been asked to do the following:

1. Participate in a valentine cookie fundraiser, the biggest fundraiser of the year, and it's for the Air Force squadron, so it's important to us as well. That's cool. I'm there!

2. Participate in two bake sales for my son's Boy Scout Troop, which is raising money for summer camp, so this is pretty important too. My son wants to go to camp in England, and we'd naturally like to help offset the cost, and do our fair share of the work.

3. Participate in a burrito sale for my other son's Cub Scout Pack, which is also raising money for future events. We're on board for that and understand the importance of pitching in. By the way, this coincides with one of my older son's bake sales and I'll be single parenting that night. Okay, I guess I can juggle those balls.

4. Participate in a 6th grade bake sale to raise money for the D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) graduation, and of course this is certainly a worthwhile cause. I don't have many opportunities to volunteer in my son's class since he's older now and parents in the classroom aren't so cool or necessary at this stage. Mommy guilt runneth amok if I don't help out here.

5. Provide both a cake and a pie for the Cub Scouts' Blue & Gold Banquet, which is yet another way of raising funds for the Cub Scouts. The cake is supposed to be a "Dad/Lad" contest, but the dad part of this duo will be out of town until late the night before the event, and we'd need to get started sooner. I don't want to disappoint my little man, so... guess it's going to be a "Mom/Lad" entry. And I suppose I could make a pie too, since I'm already making a cake. Sure, yeah... I guess I can do that too.


I'm seriously thinking of hiring myself a full-time baker to make all the baked goods I've been asked to provide. Honestly... ENOUGH ALREADY!