Tag: Operation Gratitude

Operation Gratitude – One Millionth Care Package Celebration Pictures

Operation Gratitude celebrated their historic One Millionth Care Package on Saturday, December 7, and The Gallery Collection is very proud to have played a part. In total, 7,500 cards were donated for the celebration which you can view here.

The Gallery Collection donated 5,000 collectible greeting cards to be given to the volunteers and everyone that helped make the one millionth care package a reality. These cards were then given a commemorative stamp and cancellation. Check out the below gallery to see the attendees getting their cards stamped.

We also donated 2,500 specially designed greeting cards to be signed and sent to the troops as a Thank You for their service. The below gallery includes some photographs of attendees writing their personalized thank you’s that went out to the troops.

It was such an honor and a privilege for us to be a part of this historic event.  We again want to thank everyone at Operation Gratitude for the amazing service they provide and congratulate them on this amazing accomplishment!

 

 

Operation Gratitude Q&A – One Millionth Care Package Event

The Gallery Collection recently made a 7,500 greeting card donation to Operation Gratitude for their 1 Millionth Care Package Celebration. Carolyn Blashek, the Founder and CEO of Operation Gratitude, was kind enough to provide us with some information about both Operation Gratitude and the upcoming One Millionth Care-Package Event. Read on below to learn more about what the organization does, and how it benefits the members of the military community.

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  1. What is Operation Gratitude?
    • Operation Gratitude is a volunteer-based organization that annually sends 100,000+ care packages & letters of support to individual Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen & Marines deployed in harm’s way & on ships at sea, to their children left behind, and to Wounded Warriors, Care Givers, Veterans, Military Families and First Responders.
  2. How did Operation Gratitude get started?
    • In March 2003, Founder Carolyn Blashek met with a soldier who broke down at her desk after letting her know that he was going back on deployment and due to some of the personal issues he was experiencing at the time, he did not care if he made it back. It was then that Carolyn realized that troops need to believe that someone at home cares about them as an individual and Operation Gratitude was officially born.
  3. What is the Operation Gratitude One Millionth Care Package Event?
    • On December 7th, 2013, Operation Gratitude will assemble and celebrate their One Millionth Care Package, which is something that no other organization has accomplished.
  4. When is the Operation Gratitude One Millionth Care package Event?
    • December 7th, 2013
  5. How will the cards The Gallery Collection donated be used during the One Millionth Care Package Event?
    • The 5,000 Thank you for Attending Cards will be distributed to everyone who attends the event as a token of appreciation for their attendance and help. There will also be another 2,500 Thank you for Your Service cards that will be used by attendees for signing and writing notes that will then be placed in the care packages that will be sent out. Get a closer look at the two sets of cards The Gallery Collection donated here.
  6. What are some of the things that will be happening during the One Millionth Care Package Event?
    • Assembly of the “One Millionth” & “One Millionth & One” Packages
    • Santa Claus Photo Ops and Giveaways
    • Entertainment and Celebrity Surprises
    • Games & Activities for Kids; Raffle and Door Prizes
  7. What kind of donations does Operation Gratitude Accept?
    • Operation Gratitude accepts all kinds of items including things like DVDs, CDs, gift cards, toothpaste, deodorant and much much more. A complete list of wish items can be found at the below link:
  8. How many items are included in each care package?
    • Each care package contains 50 or more donated snack, entertainment and personal care items.
  9. Where does the assembly of the actual care packages take place?
    • Operation Gratitude conducts its Assembly Drives in the National Guard Armory in Van Nuys, California where more than 15,000 local volunteers participate on-site and 250,000 volunteer hours are served per year.
  10. Where can people go to find out more information about Operation Gratitude?
    • More information about Operation Gratitude can be found below:
    • Information about the Millionth Care-Package event can be found below:

 

 

The Gallery Collection Donates 7,500 Cards to the Operation Gratitude 1 Millionth Care Package Celebration

The Gallery Collection has a long history of working with Operation Gratitude. So we were thrilled to donate 7,500 cards to the Operation Gratitude 1 Millionth Care Package Celebration occurring on December 7th, 2013. We’ve created 5,000 specially designed cards to thank everyone attending the celebration for their support of Operation Gratitude over the years.

 

Thank You for Attending Card

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We’ve also created 2,500 specially designed cards to be signed and sent in even more care packages to service men and women stationed overseas.

 

Thank You for Your Service Card

thanks for service

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Operation Gratitude seeks to lift morale in the military community by sending care packages addressed to individual Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines deployed overseas, to their children left behind, and to Veterans, First Responders, Wounded Warriors and their care givers. Operation Gratitude care packages contain food, hygiene products, entertainment and handmade items, plus personal letters of appreciation, all wrapped with good wishes of love and support.

The 1 Millionth Care Package Celebration is the culmination of a decade of hard work and dedication. To send so many card packages was no small feat, and this feat could not have been accomplished without the donations and volunteer efforts of so many people. This celebration marks not only the shipment of the 1 millionth care package; it is a celebration of everyone who made this moment possible.

If you’d like more information on the Operation Gratitude 1 Millionth Care Package Event, or if you’d like to help out in some way, please go to the Operation Gratitude website: http://opgrat.wordpress.com/2013/02/26/save-the-date-one-million-care-packages-and-counting/.

21 Card Salute

Here are some holiday cards personalized by young students in New York for Operation Gratitude’s “Letters to Heroes” program. These cards will be stuffed in care packages and shipped to deployed service members stationed overseas. There are 21 personalized messages in total, and we strung them together for our rendition of a “21 Card Salute.”

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The King Day of Service was a Success Indeed!

This past Monday, January 19, was a very special day for The Gallery Collection. Not only was it the day before Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States, but it was also the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service. And in honoring Dr. King as well as our troops currently stationed overseas, we donated 100,000 thank you cards to be included in Operation Gratitude care packages. Operation Gratitude teamed up with Target and Serve DC to set up a care package assembly line at the RFK Memorial Stadium in Washington DC. In paying tribute to Dr. King and acting in the spirit of the National Day of Service, thousands of volunteers came to the stadium to help assemble the packages and personalize thank you cards to individual soldiers. Here is some footage from the stadium:


You’ll notice in the video that some special guests made an appearance, including Michelle Obama and Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut. At the end of the day, over 75,000 care packages were assembled, thanks to the thousands of people who volunteered their time to help. We all worked together to make this past Monday a day ON instead of a day off.


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Personalized Christmas Cards Maker GalleryCollection.com Joins Operation Gratitude and Army-Navy Game to Support Troops Overseas

RIDGEFIELD PARK, NJ – December 3, 2008 – Prudent Publishing’s GalleryCollection.com, the leading personalized Christmas cards and corporate Holiday cards publisher in the nation, announced today that it has joined Operation Gratitude and the 2008 Army-Navy Football Game to support deployed service members through Operation Gratitude’s “Letters to Heroes” letter writing campaign.

Operation Gratitude has been sending care packages to individual service members deployed overseas since 2003. “Letters to Heroes” coordinates efforts to provide heartfelt letters to service members, which are then included in each care package.

GalleryCollection.com and Operation Gratitude donated 28,000 holiday cards and will distribute the cards at the 109th Army-Navy Game, being held at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field on December 6. At the game, fans will use the holiday cards to write personal letters of appreciation to service members, and these personalized Christmas cards will be delivered in each Operation Gratitude care package.

Holiday cards will also be made available for personalization at several Philadelphia hotel welcome tables, the Army-Navy Gala held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center on December 5, and Penn’s Landing.

The first Army-Navy Game kicked off in 1890 at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, but it didn’t become a true annual tradition until 1930. Generally played on the first Saturday in December, the game is considered one of the longest lasting rivalries in college football. To learn more about the 2008 game, visit http://www.PhillyLovesArmyNavy.com/.

To learn more about Operation Gratitude and how to contribute to the organization’s military support efforts, visit http://www.opgratitude.com/.

About GalleryCollection.com – Prudent Publishing’s GalleryCollection.com is the leading publisher of premium quality Christmas cards and business Holiday cards in the United States. Established in 1929 and still family owned, the company offers direct-from-the-publisher prices that include customized ink and foil imprints, a large selection of memorable greetings, and matching deckle-edged envelopes made of recycled paper. GalleryCollection.com also offers numerous types of all occasion greeting cards including business birthday cards, thank you cards, and anniversary cards, many of which are FSC-certified (SW-COC-002530) and produced with Green-e certified

Contact:
Greg Koizim
(201) 641-7900 x427

About Operation Gratitude – Operation Gratitude (www.operationgratitude.com) is the 501 (c) (3) non-profit, volunteer organization that annually sends 100,000+ care packages of items and letters addressed to individually named U.S. Service Members deployed in hostile overseas regions. 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. Since its inception in March, 2003, Operation Gratitude has shipped more than 375,000 packages to American troops deployed overseas.

Contact:
Carolyn Blashek
www.youtube.com/OpGrat
Infoline: (818) 909-0039
Tel: (818) 789-0123