PATRIOTIC DRIVE 2005 Surpasses All Expectations!

Operation Gratitude courtesy photo.

Blackanthem.com, Encino, California, July 25, 2005

1,500 OPERATION GRATITUDE volunteers, wearing hand-made red, white and blue headbands, celebrated to DJ style music and Subway sandwiches (generously donated by the Los Angeles area franchisees), as they formed a human assembly line to package and ship over 20,000 gift boxes during the 4-day Memorial Weekend.
Fox News and all local media channels, newspapers and radio stations sent reporters to cover the spectacle, and to their amazement, witnessed people from all age groups, ethnic backgrounds and geographical locations, gather together to ensure that our men and women serving in Iraq, Afghanistan and other theatres of operation would receive a small package of love during the summer, beginning with the 4th of July Holiday.

The gift boxes were filled with items donated by corporate sponsors and individual donors. Items included Girl Scout Cookies, AA batteries, DVDs, Music CDs, Beanie Babies and other novelties, candy, Smartzone Bars, Coppertone sunscreen, t-shirts, Emer'gen-C, hats, Cell Boosts, Craisins, AT&T and Callingcards.com phone cards, SF Bay Coffee, Sunkist Pistachios and various other goodies.

The Patriotic Drive kicked off with an emotional Reenlistment Ceremony for a soldier recently returned from Iraq who had received an Operation Gratitude package while deployed. Cpl Buckles told the volunteers that he chose to continue serving in large part due to the support he had received from the American people as represented by Operation Gratitude. Several other Soldiers and Marines who had returned from recent deployments, and several scheduled to deploy in the coming year worked side by side with the civilian crew. As the weekend rolled on, the pace quickened to ensure that every servicemember whose name was submitted would receive a package.

During the Father's Day weekend and several subsequent Fridays, the intrepid group of Hard Corps Volunteers continued to fill additional boxes to reach 27,112 Patriotic Packages sent. Now that the total tally has surpassed 71,000, the dedicated Volunteers are committed to shipping more than 30,000 packages for the Holiday Drive--passing the 100,000 total package mark!

Source : Operation Gratitude