Want to Make Someone’s Day? Sponsor a Care Package!

May is Military Appreciation Month and to celebrate, we are launching a new program to provide our supporters an opportunity to personally “Sponsor” Operation Gratitude Care Packages.

With your tax-deductible donation of $20, $30, $50, $75, $100, $250 or $500 or more, you can send special care packages to our Military, personalized with your name on a beautiful card inside the packages.

You can even receive your own gift(s) as a “Thank You” from Operation Gratitude.

What kind of difference will your financial donation make to Operation Gratitude?

Read this letter written by a care package recipient to understand the impact you will have:

“I sit in my office in a land far away and am simply speechless at your kindness and generosity. It truly brings tears to my eyes that you all would take the time to send package after package to deployed troops around the world. Sometimes it’s hard to find words to inspire and motivate troops to get out and put themselves in the face of the enemy daily. After all the care packages received this week from your organization my job as a First Sergeant is a little easier. My words to them this morning were simple…’We push forward because Americans are behind us and we can’t let them down!’ I love you all!! 1SG J.D.”

Remember: It is never too late to say “Thank you” to our Heroes!

Sponsor a care package – or several! – today!  (Click on the package title to go to the corresponding purchase page.)

1. The Private First Class

$20 Donation sends a care package filled with $75-100 worth of donated items plus a personal card with your name as the Postage Donor. You may select which specific type of  “Private First Class” Sponsored Package you want to send:  Deployed Troop, Veteran or First Responder

2. The Corpsman

$30 Donation sends a care package filled with $75-100 worth of donated items plus a Paracord Survival Bracelet* made by an Operation Gratitude Volunteer plus a personal card with your name as the Postage Donor.

As a special bonus, you (the Donor) will receive your own “surprise color” Paracord Survival Bracelet.

*Paracord Survival Bracelets are made from 8 feet of 550 Paracord rope and can be unraveled in an emergency when rope is needed and can potentially save a life.

3. The Battalion Buddy 

$50 Donation sends a care package to the child of a deployed or wounded service member. The package includes our trademarked cuddly 16-inch Battalion Buddy and a personal card with your name as the Postage Donor.

As a special bonus, you (the Sponsor) will receive your very own 12″ Battalion Buddy (while supplies last)!

4. The Chaplain

$75 Donation sends a care package filled with $75-100 worth of donated items to a Wounded Warrior plus a very unique package filled with donated items to pamper their loving Care Giver. Both packages will include a personal card with your name as the Postage Donor.

As a special bonus, you (the Sponsor) will receive two “surprise color” Paracord Survival Bracelets.

5. The Company Commander

$100 Donation sends:

~Battalion Buddy Package to a Military Child

~Care Giver Package

~Wounded Warrior Package

~Deployed Troop Package with a Paracord Survival Bracelet

~ A personal card in each package with your name as the Postage Donor

As a special bonus, a 12″ Battalion Buddy (while supplies last) and a Yellow Ribbon Paracord Bracelet will be sent to you.

6. The Colonel’s Corner

$250 Donation sends Battalion Buddy care packages to an entire Squad of children whose parents are deployed or wounded. Each package will include a personal card with your name as the Postage Donor.

As a special bonus, you will receive your very own 12″ Battalion Buddy (while supplies last), a Yellow Ribbon Paracord Bracelet and a Limited Edition Operation Gratitude T-Shirt (while supplies last).

7. The Commanding General 

$500 Donation sends care packages with Paracord Survival Bracelets to an entire Platoon of Troops. Each package will include a personal card with your name as the Postage Donor.

As a special bonus, you will receive your very own 12″ Battalion Buddy (while supplies last), a Yellow Ribbon Paracord Bracelet, a Limited Edition Operation Gratitude T-Shirt (while supplies last), and a Limited Edition “March to a Million” Dogtag (while supplies last).

Questions? Send an email to OpGrat@gmail.com

Please Note: We accept all package requests and will always send a care package to any deployed service member whose name and address we receive in a timely manner through our website (please submit requests on the website form only; we cannot accept names here or on the donation page).  The sponsored name cards will be distributed randomly into the selected type of package; we do not have the personnel resources to direct a particular package with a sponsor card to a specific individual. Thank you for your understanding.

And…Thank you for your support!

Praying for Boston

Thank you to the Massachusetts National Guard and all the first responders who risked their lives in the aftermath of yesterday’s bombing.

We are praying for the victims, their families, the first responders and the investigating officials. Operation Gratitude stands ready to assist as appropriate — we will do all we can. 

28,000 Troops in South Korea Need Our Support

A message from Operation Gratitude founder, Carolyn Blashek:

If you’re like me, you have been following the serious and alarming news about what has been going on in North Korea in recent weeks and what it all may mean for the 28,000 U.S. Service Members currently stationed in South Korea — and for their families at home.

To put it mildly, the situation is extremely tense.

As we begin our 2013 Patriotic Drive, our hearts and minds are focused on all U.S. troops who are serving our country — and the world — in dangerous places. Some, like those stationed in South Korea, are not officially “in combat,” but are serving a “Hardship Tour” away from home. 

We have reached out to the regional Commands to obtain the names of our troops in South Korea, and we are preparing to send care packages to all serving Hardship Tours. Please help us extend our thanks, encouragement and support to these troops who are now on “Watchcon 2″ — the highest alert.

Your generous donations will make a difference to thousands of brave men and women: Donate Now

If you prefer to donate by mail, you can send checks to:

Operation Gratitude
16444 Refugio Road
Encino, CA 91436

Remember to pray for our Military and their families. Thank you for your continued support!

“Carry My Love”: Celebrating and Supporting Military Children

In celebration of Military Child Month, we have a guest post from long-time Operation Gratitude supporter and volunteer, Nancy Levy:

I love the simplicity with which inspiration can strike and a new idea is born. My husband Gary and I were driving home from a recording session for my new children’s music CDs when Gary had one such inspiration. He asked, “Wouldn’t it be great to write a song for military children whose parents have deployed?”

As we drove on, my thoughts drifted to my own children, now grown. The mere thought of a long separation from them when they were young made my heart ache. I connected most deeply with the moments we shared laying together quietly reading and cuddling before bedtime each night. As we arrived home, the first lyrics seemed to be writing themselves…

“And the time I miss you most is when I lay down in my bed, and I think of all the stories that the two of us have read…” 

I continued to write and “feel” my way through the song while I thought about the responses that Operation Gratitude gets from the troops who receive care packages. The items that seem to mean the most to the troops are the letters from home, and especially the letters from children. I imagined what a letter from my own child would mean to me after a long separation. It would be my lifeline. And so the song continued to unfold with a theme…the letter, that sacred connection to home:

“And I draw wings on the backs of my letters that will carry my love to you.”

Once the song was finished we assembled a wonderful team to record the song and complete our project. I know I speak for everyone who so generously donated their time, energy and talent when I say that it is our great pleasure to offer Carry My Love to Operation Gratitude.

Though the minimum donation for the download is .99 cents, please feel free to donate more. One-hundred percent of your donation will go directly to Operation Gratitude.

I have one more goal for Carry My Love: I would like to produce a CD and illustrated book to include in every Operation Gratitude Battalion Buddy care package.

Interested in sponsoring this project? Please email me at: nancy@nancyscircleoffriends.com

Please visit Nancy’s Circle of Friends to download the song. You will find links on both the Home Page and the News Page along with information about my other children’s music projects.

Here is a  YouTube video of Carry My Love that we hope you will enjoy:

Thank you for supporting Operation Gratitude!! 

 

Victory Motorcycle Up for Auction to Benefit Operation Gratitude

“Victory is proud to support Operation Gratitude programs that benefit our military, their families and first responders.” –Steve Menneto, Polaris Vice President of Victory Motorcycles

Victory Motorcycles is auctioning off the Victory Cross Country motorcycle featured on the cover of its 2013 brochure. One-hundred percent of the proceeds from the auction will be donated to Operation Gratitude. The bike offers an added bonus – it was signed by their featured models (see right). The auction ends on March 28th, so bid now: Victory Cover Bike Auction

As always, THANK YOU for your support!

We’re Turning 10! Celebrate and Support the Troops with Us!

Ten years ago this week, Operation Gratitude began in a very simple way, with a very simple purpose: To THANK our troops for protecting us and our freedoms.

Please help celebrate our birthday by joining us to support deployed troops, wounded warriors, veterans, military families and first responders! Here are some ideas — do one or do them all!

–Make a donation so our work may continue: Donate Online – every $15 pays our shipping and assembly costs to send another care package!

–Check out our Amazon “Wish List” of items that you can purchase and donate directly to us without the hassle of boxing them up and making a trip to the Post Office: Operation Gratitude’s “Wish List”

–Write a letter of thanks and we’ll send it in our care packages: Write to the Troops

Thank you for your generosity and support!

Fun, Hands-on “March to a Million” Project: We Need Volunteers!

Schools! Scout Troops! Youth Groups! Everyone else! Want to help us out with a special “March to a Million” project? Want to earn Community Service Hours? Read on!

Go to this link: http://bit.ly/14OYRem
Print one or more pages, grab a paper cutter or a pair of scissors, cut out each of the “mini care packages” printed on the page and send them to us for our #March2aMill celebration! Even if you can’t be with us in Van Nuys on December 7, you’ll be able to participate in the festivities from afar!

Each 8.5″ x 11″ page has 200 little images on it (see right for a tiny version of what the page looks like). When you cut up an entire page, please put the little boxes into a small ziploc bag and label the bag: “200 boxes.”

IMPORTANT: If you cut up more than one page, you may put up to 1,000 boxes into one baggie, but please clearly indicate the total number of boxes in each baggie you send to us.

And be sure to include your name and address so we can properly thank you for your help!

Want to earn Community Service Hours? We will provide One Hour of Community Service Credit for every five pages cut up (1000 mini care packages). If you want a Community Service Certificate, please include a self-addressed stamped envelope along with the cut out boxes you send and we will mail the Certificate to you.

Send the cut out boxes to us at this address:

M2M Special Project
P.O. Box 3334
Chatsworth, CA 91313

Again: Please be sure to label the baggie(s) with the total number of cut out  “mini care packages” inside each baggie.

Wondering what we’ll be doing with these little boxes? That’s a surprise — you’ll have to wait until our big event on December 7 to find out!

Thank you for your help and support!