 Living
"This will be the fastest paced Care Package Drive we have ever undertaken" declared Charlie Othold, Director of Operations. "We only have two weekends of Prep Work and two weekends of Assembling, but we will get a package shipped to every service member whose name we receive" he promised. On May 17, the opening day of the Patriotic Drive, more than 60 Operation Gratitude Supervisory Volunteers will be honored with the presentation of the "President's Volunteer Service Award" during a special ceremony at 11:30am. In observance of Memorial Day on Saturday May 24, the organization will pay tribute to Wounded Warriors with a screening of the documentary "Warriors...in their own Words" trailer. On the same day, Operation Gratitude will celebrate the shipment of its 350,000th Care Package, the contents of which will remain a secret until the moment the box hits the Assembly Line! The last three milestone Operation Gratitude Care Packages contained the keys to new Dodge or Jeep vehicles. Stung by the recent Postal Service rate increase of ~10%, Bill Van Trump, Development Director, is encouraging supporters to donate funds to pay postage costs, rather than purchase items for the packages. "We have been extremely fortunate to receive very generous product donations from our Corporate Sponsors this year" explained Van Trump. "Our biggest needs now are funds and personal hand-written letters." WHAT: Operation Gratitude 2008 Patriotic Drive WHEN: May 17 at 11:30am: Presentation of "President's Volunteer Service Awards" May 17-18 and May 24-25: Assembly of Packages 9am-4pm Daily; Lunch 12-1pm WHERE: California Army National Guard Armory 17330 Victory Boulevard; Van Nuys, CA 91406 Media and press are invited to all events and lunch. Parking available on premises. Volunteers 12 years and older are welcome to participate at the Armory. Financial Donations and Personal Letters should be mailed to: Operation Gratitude 16444 Refugio Road Encino, CA 91436 About Operation Gratitude Operation Gratitude is the California- based 501 (c) (3) non-profit, all-volunteer organization that annually sends 100,000+ care packages of snacks, entertainment items and personal letters of appreciation addressed to individually named U.S. Service Members deployed in hostile regions such as Iraq and Afghanistan, and on military ships at sea. Its mission is to lift morale, bring a smile to a service member's face and to express to all troops the appreciation and support of the American people. For safety and security, all assembling of packages occurs at the Army National Guard armory in Van Nuys, California. Since its inception in March, 2003, Operation Gratitude has shipped more than 320,000 packages to American troops deployed overseas. For more information, visit the website: www.operationgratitude.com For video coverage, visit the OpGrat Channel on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/OpGrat |
