Loyola’s College Republicans Holds ‘Support Our Troops’ Bake Sale

Loyola University Maryland's College Republicans group began their third annual "Support Our Troops" Christmas bake sale today.

The bake sale runs through Friday, and monies raised by the group will be donated to the United Service Organization and the Wounded Warrior Project.

The USO is a non-profit organization that provides welfare and recreation services to U.S. troops, and the Wounded Warrior Project aids severely injured veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as they transition from combat to civilian lifestyles.

"They give us so much," said Joe Smith, 20, a junior mechanical engineering major and the president of Loyola's chapter of the College Republicans. "I feel like we owe it to them in some small way to give back and support them."

Planning for the sale began one month ago. Individual club members pooled their money and distributed buying and baking assignments. Enlisting help from the Loyola Cooking Network, another campus student group, and from club members' mothers eager to lend a hand, Smith's group has a cache of cupcakes and brownies ready for sale.

"We try and stay away from the baking part of it," said a grinning Smith.

Club members will work tables in both of Loyola's cafeterias for five hours each day this week. Cupcakes sell for $1. Smaller brownies sell for $1, while the large brownies go for $5.

By day's end Monday, Smith estimated that the group had raised more than $450. Their goal is to raise at least as much money as they did last year: $2,800. The first year of the bake sale, Loyola's College Republicans raised $1,792.22.

"We're on track to basically tie or beat last year's record," said Smith, whose one cousin served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan; another of his cousins just enlisted in the Army.

In addition to the bake sale, the group provides Christmas cards for students to sign. The cards will be sent to Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

"I think it's a good cause," said Dan Clements, 20, a political science major and fellow junior. Clements will be working the bake sale table every day this week.

"They do everything for us," he said of the U.S. troops. "[It's] the least we can do."

While Loyola's College Republicans directly sponsor the bake sale, Smith is quick to note that the fundraising effort is not a partisan event, and that they've received support from many different groups campus-wide.

"I'm doing this because I care about it," said Smith. "People do this because they care about it, and that's why it's a success."