Operation Gratitude Nears Million Package Milestone

With hundreds of volunteers looking on at the California Army National Guard Armory this past Saturday, Operation Gratitude founder, Carolyn Blashek, announced the launch of "March to a Million" -- a new campaign highlighting the non-profit organization's mission to send one million individually-addressed care packages to deployed troops, military children, wounded warriors, veterans and emergency first responders.

"Every aspect of Operation Gratitude's work now and going forward is a step in the march toward sending the millionth package," Blashek said.

As part of the March to a Million campaign, Operation Gratitude launched a comprehensive web refresh, including the organization's main site, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

"Social media is an incredibly powerful tool that allows every American, no matter where they live or how busy their schedules are, to be an important part of Operation Gratitude's historic March to a Million campaign," said Zach Suchin, CEO of the digitial media firm Brand Knew. "The M2M campaign represents the best of the collective human spirit, and all of these social components enable this important initiative to live well beyond the confines of a single armory."

"And we truly are making history," Blashek added. "No other military support organization has ever delivered as many personalized care packages to the Military Community as Operation Gratitude."

Blashek also spoke about Operation Gratitude's special Milestone Gifts donated by corporate partners over the years. Exciting plans for the upcoming Millionth Care Package are already in the works. 

Companies wishing to participate as Sponsors of the campaign or as gift contributors should contact Blashek at Carolyn@OperationGratitude.com.

Every person who donates a minimum of $15 to the March to a Million campaign will receive a special commemorative gift.

Blashek expects the Millionth Care Package to be sent by the end of 2013. Taking the organization several steps closer to that milestone, the Operation Gratitude volunteers assembled and shipped more than 8,000 care packages on Saturday, bringing the overall tally to 786,069 packages sent since 2003.