There is no doubt; the nicest and most giving people gravitate to
Our Daily Bread Designs.  This year was no exception and we really
noticed this during our travels throughout the USA while on our
“show tour”.  

Although we never met Sandy Allnock in person at any of the shows,
her name was mentioned many times.  Show customers waiting at
our register to cash out (arms full of ODBD stamp set especially those
of a patriotic nature) would tell us about how they make cards for
this great organization that sends them to our troops overseas.  The name of the
organization is Operation Write Home and the person they always mentioned was Sandy
Allnock.  

As a regular web based customer that ordered ODBD stamp sets over the internet, her
name was familiar to us but now it was time to find out more about Sandy and Operation
Write Home.  So we contacted Sandy and found a person that exemplifies the meaning of
“giving”.  Here is her story.  

Operation Write Home started out as a bit of an accident. Sandy never intended to start a
nonprofit organization.  She had heard a story on the radio about a mom who sent 1,000
cards to her son's unit in Iraq and figured she could collect extra cards from some online
friends and send them over too.

A deployed Army medic responded to the discussion on a forum and said she would be
happy to receive some cards, so Sandy and her group sent the medic their first box of
cards. Then they sent a second box.  After that, they found another contact. This
snowballed to a point where they needed more cards to meet both the unit’s needs. It just
kept growing little by little until Sandy and her group needed a website and a blog.  And as
they say, the rest is history!

Operation Write Home now serves nearly 200 contacts every 6 weeks with 325 cards in
each box. OWH has surpassed one million cards, which is an amazing milestone.

A simple statement from Sandy pretty much summarizes how God works His wonders
through the people He calls.  

“If anyone had told me we would get this far, that my guest bath tub would be storage for
off-season cards, and I would barely have room for a Christmas tree due to the Nation's
response to the project - I likely would have said no and never started! But fortunately I
didn't know that, and at this point wouldn't change a thing. Working alongside so many
great volunteers who have a passion for serving our heroes is a great honor - not to
mention the delight of directly impacting the lives of deployed service members and their
families every day”.

Outside of Operation Write Home, Sandy works full time as a graphic designer at World
Vision. She strategizes and designs marketing materials of all sorts such as brochures,
catalogs, direct mail, retail displays, web pages and emails, videos, corporate partnerships,
and social media campaigns. Sandy mentioned the experiences she has had at World Vision
have been used and expanded as OWH has grown.  Even some training in behind-the-
scenes database work and in-depth spreadsheet development has proven extremely useful
at OWH!

As a proud sponsor of Operation Write Home, all of us at Our Daily Bread Designs would
like to say, God bless Sandy Allnock, Operation Write Home, our Brave Soldiers and God
Bless the United States of America.

Below is Operation Write Home’s Mission Statement.  Also, Sandy is always looking for
cardmakers so if you would like to get involved, please visit their website at HERE.

Supporting our nation's armed forces by sending blank handmade greeting cards to write home on, as
well as cards of gratitude to encourage them.

This merry band of thousands of cardmakers is made up of Americans - and citizens of other nations
too - who care about our military, and want to support them through creativity and encouragement.
Crafters of all ages and levels of experience have participated since 2007...and are on the way to a
landmark one MILLION cards!

Care packages filled with hundreds of handmade cards are sent to our contacts, restocking every 6-8
weeks, and are sent in time for the long journey back home to loved ones. Each box is packed with
great care, alternating styles, colors, and cardmakers from all over the USA, creating "eye candy" for
heroes who see only khaki around them. The topper on each box is a plastic bag filled with 20-30
letters from adults and children across the country, letters handed out especially to those in need of a
positive word from the homefront.

Boxes are shipped through every week of the year, so join us anytime in sending your beautiful
creations to help our heroes keep in touch with home!