U.S. Marine Returns from Iraq to Receive New Car!
Operation Gratitude and Checkers®/Rally's® are proud to present this American Hero with a new Dodge Caliber
St. Louis, MO--
May 29, 2007--
Checkers Drive-In Restaurants, Inc., the nation's
largest double drive-thru restaurant chain and parent
company of both Checkers® and Rally's® concepts,
is committed to showing our troops that America
cares. A proud partner of Operation Gratitude, a
nonprofit organization that sends care packages to
U.S. Troops deployed overseas, Checkers/Rally's
donated the keys to a new Dodge® Caliber as part of
the contents of Operation Gratitude's milestone
200,000th care package shipped this past winter.
St. Louis resident, 20-year-old Marine Lance Cpl.
Jordan Richards, stationed at Camp Fallujah, Iraq,
received Operation Gratitude's 200,000th care
package
on December 29, 2006. Inside that box, Lance Cpl.
Richards was shocked to find a postcard from
Checkers/Rally's saying, "This Dodge Caliber is
yours!" when you return home. Redeployed to the
states earlier this month, Lance Cpl. Richards will
receive his new car from Operation Gratitude and
Checkers/Rally's on Wednesday, May 30, 2007.
The presentation will be made to Lance Cpl.
Richards, accompanied by his family and fiancé, at
the Rally's Restaurant located at 9651 Natural Bridge
Road, St. Louis*, at 2:30 p.m. on May 30th
WHAT:
St. Louis resident, 20-year-old
Marine
Lance Cpl. Jordan Richards, receives a new car from
Operation Gratitude and Checkers/Rally's after
returning from Camp Fallujah,
Iraq, earlier this month.
WHEN:
Wednesday, May 30th, 2007 at 2:30
PM
WHERE:
Rally's, 9651 Natural Bridge Road,
St. Louis, MO 63134
This past weekend,
members of Operation
Gratitude's 3500+
Volunteer Corps commenced its 4th Annual
Patriotic Drive to
assemble
and ship at
least 50,000 Patriotic Care Packages to U.S.
service members deployed overseas. The packages
are filled
with Flash Drives, Phone Cards, DVDs and
CDs, Mr. Potato Heads, Beanie Babies, Candy, Gum,
Cough Drops, Girl Scout Cookies, Bandana
Cool-Ties, Skin Care Products, Coffee, Greeting
Cards,
Batteries, Energy Drinks, T-Shirts, Socks,
assorted Snacks and the inaugural issue of the
Operation Gratitude Magazine. Over 18,000 packages
were assembled in the two days.
Additonal Packing Events will take place at the
Operation Gratitude headquarters in Van Nuys, CA
(17330 Victory Blvd)
on the following dates:
June 2 and June 3
June 16 and June 17
June 30 and July 1
All products for the packages have been
donated by
individuals, organizations, schools, community
groups,
businesses and more than five dozen
Corporate Sponsors (companies that have
donated 10,000 items or more).
Overall expenses
of ~$10-15/package are covered by tax
deductible financial donations from citizens across
the country.
Operation Gratitude obtains names of troops
from their loved ones or from comrades who
previously received a package. The vast majority of
names are provided by commanders and leaders
in the field who have seen first-hand the
positive impact of the program on the morale of their
Soldiers, Marines, Airmen and Sailors.
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 Army National Guard armory
in Van Nuys, California. Since its inception in March,
2003, Operation Gratitude has shipped more than
225,000 packages to American troops deployed
overseas.
Operation Gratitude is now featured on the
popular video site, YouTube. To view this short,
informative video, check out
Operation Gratitude Video
Checkers/Rally's
Checkers/Rally's, a division of Checkers Drive-In
Restaurants Inc., is the largest double drive-thru
restaurant chain in the United States. The company,
based in Tampa, Fla., develops, owns, operates and
franchises quick-service Checkers and Rally's double
drive-thru restaurants.
In 2005, Checkers/Rally's was awarded two of the
industry's most coveted recognitions: Best Drive-Thru
in America 2005 in the QSR Drive-Thru Study for
Rally's and Nation's Restaurant News Hot! Again
Award for Checkers' sizzling business performance.
|
Operation Gratitude
Susan Hauser
Cell:
818.943.6829
|
Checkers®/Rally's®
Elizabeth Sheridan
Cell:
813.317.5261
|
Operation Gratitude is a federally registered
trademark.
