SURPRISE GIFT DRIVES CELEBRATION OF OPERATION GRATITUDE'S 200,000th CARE PACKAGE
And 50,000th Package For Annual Holiday Drive
During the weekend of December 16-17,
2006 hundreds of new and returning volunteers
will gather at the California National
Guard Armory in Van Nuys to assemble thousands of
packages for U.S. troops, including Operation
Gratitude’s
200,000th Care Package since its inception and
the 2006
Holiday Drive's 50,000th Care Package.
Operation Gratitude Director of Operations, Charlie
Othold,
expects to hit this "Double Header" moment in the
11:00 a.m. to 12 noon hour on Saturday,
December
16th.
"You can feel the excitement building among the
volunteers" reports Penny Alfonso, volunteer
coordinator for Operation Gratitude. "They are all
thrilled to be a part of these very special milestones."
In addition to Wish
List items provided by more than
50 Corporate Sponsors and
Friends, and by tens of thousands of individual
donors
across the country, the boxes marking the
50,000th and 200,000th packages, will
contain several exciting surprise gifts
including
Sports, Electronics, and Travel items. The
details of
these gifts, in addition to a
special Grand Gift, will be
revealed during the
11:00 - 12:00 hour on December 16.
Academy Award winning actress Elizabeth
Taylor and Country Music star Michael
Peterson
have joined the celebration by writing personal
greetings for the
milestone 200,000th and 50,000th package
recipients. Memorabilia autographed by sports,
entertainment and political legends will add to
the
recipients' surprise, which will be captured by Military
Correspondents on the scene overseas.
The volunteers, joined by Los Angeles Mayor
Antonio
Villaraigosa, Angels Manager Mike Scioscia and
Emmy-Award winner Ed Asner, will continue to
assemble Care
Packages at the National Guard Armory from 9:00
am-4:00 pm on December 16-17. By the end of the
weekend,
Operation Gratitude will have shipped over
54,000 packages during this 2006 Holiday Drive,
which started during the Veteran's Day weekend in
November.
WHAT: Operation Gratitude Holiday Drive
and Celebration of the 200,000th and 50,000th Care
Packages
WHEN: December 16-17, 2006, 9:00 a.m. -
4:00 p.m. daily
Shipment of 200,000th Package: Approximately
11:00 a.m.,
Saturday December 16, 2006
WHERE:
California Army National Guard Armory
17330 Victory
Boulevard
Van Nuys, Ca. 91406
Corner of Victory and Louise, between Balboa and
White Oak
Volunteers (ages 12 years and older) are welcome to
assist in the weekend activities.
For additional information, please visit the
www.operationgratitude.com website, email
cblashek@aol.com or call the Hotline: 818-789-0563
The troops
express their appreciation for Operation Gratitude
care packages through a constant flow of
letters, e-mails and pictures, as seen in the Mail
Call and Photo
Gallery sections of the
www.operationgratitude.com website.
"Just wanted to say thank you for the care
packages. My unit received them today. I must tell
you someone knows what they are doing and what
the troops need, because these were by far and
away the best packages we have ever received. I
can't tell you enough how much we are thankful for
the items you sent. W/R Major C. USMC"
Learn more...
About Operation Gratitude
Operation Gratitude (
www.operationgratitude.com ) is the California-
based 501 (c) (3) non-profit, all-volunteer
organization that sends 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, Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay 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 Operation Gratitude
headquarters in Southern California. Since its
inception in March, 2003, Operation Gratitude has
shipped more than 190,000 packages to American
troops deployed overseas.
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Operation Gratitude
Carolyn Blashek
HOTLINE:
818-789-0563
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Operation Gratitude is a federally registered
trademark.
