Article updated: 11/22/2012 7:04 AM

Lombard woman's letters, cookies are troops' escape

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Candy Bishop of Lombard has been baking cookies and writing letters to troops through the nonprofit Soldiers' Angels, connecting with more than 4,000 military members in four years. Here, she holds her favorite gift from someone she's written — an American flag flown July 4, 2009, over Forward Operating Base Gardez in Afghanistan, sent by an Air Force sergeant.

Bev Horne | Staff Photographer

Candy Bishop of Lombard volunteers for the nonprofit Soldiers' Angels, baking cookies and writing letters to more than 4,000 soldiers, airmen, Marines and sailors in four years.

Bev Horne | Staff Photographer

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Candy Bishop of Lombard pores over binders where she keeps letters from troops she has contacted through her volunteer work with the nonprofit Soldiers' Angels. Bishop has written to more than 4,000 soldiers, airmen, Marines and sailors in four years and often sends homemade cookies along with her letters.

Bev Horne | Staff Photographer

About this Article

Candy Bishop, 67, of Lombard, has sent thousands of letters and hundreds of batches of homemade cookies to troops in action. The escape her letters and care packages provide is fleeting, but significant. "They love letters because it takes them out of the desert for just a minute," Bishop said. "They love anything that lets them forget where they are."