Operation Gratitude Celebrates With Record-Breaking Attendance and Phenomenal Gifts--Including a Car
Santa Drives in the Winning Run!
Dear Friends,
Operation Gratitude continued the 2006 Holiday Drive
during the weekend of December 16-17, 2006 and
achieved a landmark moment!
Just before noon on Saturday, volunteers
hit a double header record: Not only did they
produce the 50,000th package for the 2006
Holiday Drive (which began Veteran's Day weekend in
November), but they also assembled and shipped the
200,000th package since Operation
Gratitude's inception in 2003!!
"We could not have reached these milestones
without the generosity of our great
Corporate Sponsors and
Friends, or the thousands of individual
volunteers and donors who have helped us over
the last three years," declared Carolyn Blashek,
founder of Operation Gratitude. "I am awed
by their support of Operation
Gratitude and inspired by their dedication
to our men and women of the U.S. Military."
Operation Gratitude Receives Visits From Honored Guests
Celebrities and Dignitaries Pay Tribute to the Troops
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa,
Councilman Tony Cardenas and
Councilwoman Wendy Gruel along with
representatives from several
Corporate Sponsors, were among the
honored guests on hand to witness this
milestone event.
Emmy Award winning actor Ed Asner
, "Deadwood" star Peter Jason
, and Hallmark Channel executives,
returned for another visit to Operation Gratitude.
Asner and Jason recently starred in the Hallmark
Channel's movie The Christmas Card
about a soldier who receives a letter of support
while deployed overseas.
Former Dodger great and current manager of the
Anaheim Angels, Mike Scoscia was
present and brought along two baseballs signed by
every Angels player, and two Angels
caps which he personally signed for inclusion in the
50,000th and 200,000th
packages.
Also included in each package was an Ultra Compact
DVD Player. To keep the DVD players running
throughout the recipients' deployments, large packs
of
batteries were donated by the wonderful
organization Troop
Batteries, started by
Miss Lizzy Lulu, whose life passed earlier this
year, but whose memory lives on in all of us at
Operation Gratitude.
Angels Memorabilia is Just the Beginning of a Grand Slam Event
Other Gifts of Love for the Troops Also a Home Run
Continuing with the sports theme, two Los Angeles
athletes donated autographed jerseys: The
Kings hockey great Luc Robitaillle
and LA Clippers Guard Corey Maggette.
Each package also contains the 4-volume historical
DVD documentary, “The Golden Era of
NASCAR," produced and donated by
John W. Warner IV, who dedicated the series
to the members of the American Armed Forces and
the WWII heroes who pioneered the sport.
Senator John Warner , Chairman of
the Senate Armed Services Committee, who narrated
the film, signed the canister for the 200,000th care
package.
Personal Letters of Support and Encouragement Included
Letters From Home Let Troops Know They Are Appreciated
The personal letters in our care packages often have
the most lasting impact on our
recipients. In addition to wonderful books of letters
made by the students of Mater Academy Charter
Middle and High School, we had two very special
letters to include in the milestone packages:
The 50,000th package received a
heartwarming
personal letter, along with an autographed picture,
DVD, CD and coin from country music great
Michael Peterson.
Our 200,000th service member will receive a
beautiful
and very touching personal letter from the legendary
Academy Award- winning actress, Dame Elizabeth
Taylor.
2006 Holiday Drive 50,000th Package Recipient Receives Vacation Two-Fer
Back-to-Back Trips Await Recipient Upon Return
The first get-away for this recipient is an exciting,
all-inclusive trip for 2 people to the 2007 Army-Navy
Game in Baltimore, Maryland, with airfare, hotel
accommodations, Pre-Game party tickets, Game
tickets and welcome gifts, all courtesy of Dr.
Pepper.
The second trip awaiting this hero's return is a
fabulous, all
expense paid trip to Las Vegas, including Hotel
accommodations at Caesar’s Palace and 2 tickets to
the Celine Dion Show courtesy of the
Anshutz Entertainment Group (AEG).
200,000th Package Recipient Drives It All Home
Dodge Caliber Automobile to be Delivered in Person Upon Return
In a surprise guest appearance,
Santa Claus himself
delivered the announcement of the 200,000th
Grand
Gift: A brand
new Dodge Caliber automobile, donated by
our great
sponsor: Checkers-Rallys double drive-thru
restaurants. The car will be
delivered in person by Checkers-Rally's and Operation
Gratitude representatives when our hero returns
home! Our enormous thanks to Keith Sirois, Rich
Turrer and Kim Francis at Checkers-Rallys for this
magnificent gift!
Postal Partnership Provides Perfect Postmark
While applauding the contributions of many
community and corporate sponsors, Blashek noted
the flexibility and ingenuity of a particularly critical
partner in this entire
process: The US Postal Service. One year
ago, the
local postal leadership recognized that our needs and
goals were rising dramatically, and they proactively
approached us to determine what they could do to
facilitate our entire process.
At the same time, many postal employees from the
entire
region volunteered to work at the Van Nuys facility
on
the days of our events, weekends
and holidays all. The fantastic result has been that
our
packages are reaching the troops in record-setting
time—many in as little as 6 days!
During our Double Header Event, Van Nuys USPS
Postmaster, Joel Smith, commemorated
Operation Gratitude's success by declaring the
Armory "Operation Gratitude Station", and
assigning our own zipcode. The USPS also
developed an exclusive Operation Gratitude
postmark for our care packages, and
commissioned a page of beautifully designed
Operation Gratitude stamps!
Troops Express Gratitude For Support
As Operation Gratitude Packages Arrive in Time for the Holidays
"Thank you for the package. I think
the best things received were the heartfelt words
from the American people. That brought a tear to my
eye. You are doing a great thing and we appreciate
more than you know or could ever imagine. The
Holidays are hard on most soldiers, but you have
made my Christmas just knowing that we
are in your thoughts and prayers. God Bless all who
are involved.
Sincerely Yours, SGT A.K."
The 2006 Holiday packages began arriving just before
Thanksgiving and have continued to pour in since.
To read the many beautiful letters from the troops,
visit the Mail
Call section of the web
site.
Record Milestones Achieved Thanks to Volunteer Efforts
Every Volunteer an Asset to Operation Gratitude
Marveling that Operation Gratitude had shipped
100,000 packages in just one year, Operation
Gratitude founder Blashek exclaimed: "This is
extraordinary!!!!!! And a very beautiful statement of
love and respect for every man and woman who
wears the uniform of the United States."
She continued: "The phenomenal pace of our growth
is a tribute to the amazing energy of our superb
volunteers, led by our unflappable Director of
Operations-Charlie Othold, and his group of
nearly 40 volunteer Supervisors."
Day after day, weekend after weekend during our
Holiday and
Patriotic Drives, the armory has been filled with
thousands of volunteers, including scouting troops,
church groups, employees from large and small
companies, service
clubs, students and individuals who wanted to
make a difference in the lives of our service men and
women overseas. Every single volunteer has played
a part in providing over 200,000
care packages filled with snacks, entertainment
items, and most importantly, messages of respect
and admiration from countless
Americans.
To ensure that no service member feels left out, the
tireless Operation Gratitude Volunteers will continue
sorting, inspecting, prepping and packing through
year-end. Significant clean-up and storage efforts
will take place throughout January.
While the deadline for product donations has passed,
we still encourage and welcome
financial donations, personal letters, and
recycling of cell phones and ink- jet cartridges
throughout the year.
How You Can Help Today
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Donations can be made by check payable to
Operation Gratitude and sent to:
Operation Gratitude
16444 Refugio Road
Encino, CA 91436
Click here to make online donations through Paypal.
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USD
Donate Now
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