ANZACs to Honolulu

Now that we are actually in the house and things are starting (just starting) to settle down I thought I would try and get a few posts up that I have not had time to write up. 

Firstly, there is the story of the ANZACs for Hawaii.

Now this is a one off, not to be repeated event, but someone who has eaten my ANZACs in the past asked me to do a favour for them and bake them some ANZACs.  

I thought you would get a kick out of the story so thought I would share it. 

The first phone call asked me to make some ANZACs because the Aussies in Honolulu at the Australian Consulate were missing good old Aussie treats.   Would I make some for them for ANZAC Day. 

Sure, I said.... just tell me how many ANZACs would be required....

The answer came back... 250 people for an invitation only reception held on the USS Missouri after the public service at Punchbowl Memorial Cemetery.... 4 biscuits per person more or less.  

Yes, you read that right, I was asked to make 1000 ANZACs to sent to Hawaii in time for ANZAC Day..

Well as you know I love a challenge and where there is a will there is a way. 

First I had to calculate the quantity of ingredients required.  How much coconut, flour, sugar etc would be needed.  I passed the list to my contact, who shall remain nameless.  He headed out, did the shopping and one night delivered all the goodies to me... except for one thing... he left the butter in the back off his car.... thankfully it was in a plastic bag so did not melt and damage his car.   

Once the ingredients were sorted I formulated a cooking schedule and recruited volunteers. 

The goal was to get all the biscuits in the mail in time to get them to Hawaii in plenty of time for ANZAC Day.   I worked out if I baked a double batch every morning from the 30th of March (Good Friday) to the 6th of April that would be a good start. I know I needed more.  So I asked for volunteers to help me and planned four more baking and packaging sessions each night from the 2nd of April to the 6th.    I had a number of volunteers come and help...

Gail, Bev U, Clarissa, Kerrie L, Shelley, Garry and Katrina...(I hope I remembered everyone)

At last over 1000 ANZACs were baked, vacuum sealed, wrapped in bubble wrap and sealed in ziplock bags. 

I then handed them over to my contact who took the boxes away and arranged their transport to America.   They arrived in good time to be re-packaged in time for ANZAC Day. 

At last they arrived and ANZAC Day arrived

.... 

Aloha Jan-Maree,

The thanks goes to you and your many volunteers for their outstanding work. I am just glad that I could do something to try and promote the great work that you guys do.

In the end we made up 228 packets of four biscuits each and every one of them found a home..

We did consume one to the packs you sent us here at the consulate (I couldn’t resist) when they first arrived.

I had two packets left over and I gave one each to my son (10) and daughter (8) and they did a talk each about Anzac Day for their class at school. I received some positive comments back from their teachers and their classmates parents that they had never heard of Anzac Day. One of the parents told that his daughter came home and told him all about it and they liked the biscuits. My daughter’s teacher googled it showed a video and then they spent the afternoon making poppies out of coloured paper. None of this would have happened if not for your generous support (and XXXX of course).

Just another of the fun experiences that I have had since starting Aussie Heroes. 

Till next time..... Keep spreading the word and happy stitching!

Jan-Maree  xx