Operation Gratitude
Armchair General publisher, Eric Weider spent part of his Father’s Day weekend hard at work – preparing some well-deserved "thank yous" to our troops deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Weider joined 250 other volunteers at the California National Guard armory in Van Nuys on June 16 to pack and ship 7,000 care packages to troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. In addition to the "goodies" the volunteers placed in the individual shipping boxes, each package contained a big surprise — a copy of Armchair General magazine!
The 7,000 boxes packed and shipped June 16 brings the total care packages Operation Gratitude has sent to date to over 250,000. The reaction of the troops receiving the packages is best summed up by this note from an Army specialist in Iraq: "Just a few words to say thank you. These packages might seem simple and small to some, but to us we really take them to heart–they go a long way. On behalf of myself and my company from Baghdad, thank you and make sure you pass around our thanks to all that took the time to make this happen. God bless you."
{default}Operation Gratitude gratefully accepts donations of care package items as well as cash to cover the costs of shipping and communications. For more information on the program and instructions on how to make a tax-deductible donation, visit Operation Gratitude’s website www.opgratitude.com. We all think about saying "Thank You" to the troops — Operation Gratitude gives us the chance to do so in a meaningful, and much appreciated, way."
