Photo Sharing – Video Sharing – Photo Printing
Yesterday, Operation Gratitude, around 11 a.m., shipped its 400,000th package to U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. The video above shows the overwhelming turnout of volunteers already working at 9:30 in the morning.
Two years ago, when Operation Gratitude shipped its 200,000 package, we wrote that:
You have to look back three years to appreciate the magnitude of this milestone. Operation Gratitude was formed in March 2003 by one person — Carolyn Blashek — . . . Working alone out of her living room, at her own expense, she began sending gift packages to the troops.
By July of that year she had sent a remarkable 295 packages, and was profiled by the local press. By July 2005, as friends and acquaintances and others heard or read of her efforts, as corporations began making contributions, as the Internet kicked in (with a significant boost from multiple prominent posts by Lucianne), and many more people joined her effort, commanders started sending her names of troops who needed mail, and within those two years the number of packages had risen to an incredible 63,984 packages, in a remarkable story of tikkun olam.
In March of this year, George W. Bush invited Carolyn Blashek to the White House to thank her for her efforts, and she was invited back again this month. This past weekend, as Operation Gratitude shipped its 200,000 package on Saturday, it just kept on going, with a full day of packing yesterday.
Since then, Blashek has been to Iraq to visit the troops (a trip described by Kyle-Anne Shiver in a remarkable article in American Thinker: “Operation Gratitude in Iraq”).
400,000 packages, and it started with one person. You can donate an item, write a letter to the troops, or contribute financially here.