Teen Gathers Group to Pack, Send the Only Gifts Some Soldiers Might Get this Holiday Season

It was when his family received a shipment in the mail that Brian Baumbach knew he had made a difference.

Three years ago, his family came home to a very special package: an authentic flag that American soldiers had flown at a forward operating base in Afghanistan. They had sent the flag as a return gift to Brian’s siblings, Eric and Kaylee, who had organized an event that year to ship care packages to soldiers deployed overseas.

“It really showed me how grateful the men and women were, and I had something to cherish for the rest of my life,” Brian, 16, said.

Last Sunday, Brian held up that flag for a group photo with a team of volunteers he’d gathered to do the same thing his brother and sister had.

The Soldiers Angels Care Package event Nov. 6 consisted of high school juniors like Brian, who are in the Lady of Mt. Carmel Companions Teen Youth Group in Darien, stuffing dozens of care packages for deployed Navy service members overseas.

When the event was over and the boxes sealed, the mountain of gifts totaled to 67 packages.

Packages were around 10 pounds each and contained Halloween candy — the youth group had collected more than 200 pounds of it for this event — snacks, gum, K-cups, stationary, food items, clothes, books, magazines, cards, games, personal hygiene products and puzzles.

There were a couple special items this year, though — Brian’s favorites were a Cubs World Series hat and copies of the Chicago Tribune and Sun-Times from the day after the Cubs' World Series win this year.

Each and every box was topped off by at least one letter of support written by the teenagers themselves.

“Although these men and women serving our nation are many miles away, we are all affected by their sacrifice,” Brian said. “The scariest part of the whole operation is how similar in age they are to me. As a 16-year-old, I cannot fathom what it would be like to be in the military two years from now.”

Most important, though, might be the simple fact that for many of these soldiers, Brian and his friends’ care packages might be the only gifts they receive this holiday season, he said.

Despite the somber tone of that fact, Brian said he wasn’t alone in enjoying the event, and that everyone participating found as much fulfillment in it as he did.

“I cannot remember a time throughout the whole night that the house was quiet,” he said.

Brian and his team collected $1,122.25 for shipping costs for the effort from area businesses, door-to-door flyer distribution and the Timberlake Homeowners Association, among others.

Donations were collected from students and parents of the Cass School District in Darien, the Timberlake Homeowners Group, employees of Morgan Stanley Oak Brook, members of the OLMC Companions Youth Group and friends and family members.

Brian first contributed to the care package project years ago, when he was in seventh grade. While his brother and sister organized similar events in the past, Brian experienced the project first through the YMCA Adventure Guides Program, which inspired him to lead the event this year.

Soldiers Angels, which is a facilitator of the event, is a volunteer-led nonprofit whose mission is to provide aid and comfort to men and women in the U.S. military.

Brian said that in addition to the good he knows he’s doing for soldiers overseas, he sees personal growth in these events, too.

“Of course this event isn’t about me, but there are always many parts of this organization that bring joy to my life as well as the soldiers overseas,” he said.

And Brian hasn’t been inactive in the volunteer community before this. He volunteers frequently for the Timberlake Civic Association, Feed My Starving Children and the Northern Illinois Food Bank, his dad, Chris Baumbach, said.

He was also named Cass Junior High’s top recycler when he was in eighth grade, tallying up 63.4 pounds of recyclable aluminum and 149 pounds of plastic.

Chris Baumbach said he was proud that Brian brought the idea of the event to the family and that it’s been great to really get people involved in sending packages overseas.

“Anyone can write a check to charity,” he said, “but this actually gets people to be part of the event.”

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All photos courtesy of Chris Baumbach.