These words spoken in 2003 to our founder, Carolyn Blashek, inspired a grass-roots movement of Americans to express their appreciation to those who protect and defend our country. Operation Gratitude started with the shipment of four individual Care Packages from a living room in Los Angeles. Twenty years later, we have grown into a nationwide community committed to saying “Thank You” to all who serve.  As we look ahead to the next twenty years, we invite you to commemorate this important milestone with us. 

Our celebration began on March 18 at our FOB in Los Angeles, where we assembled 5,000 Care Packages for Deployed Troops. Throughout 2023, assemblies are happening in Boston, MA; Charleston, S.C.; Jacksonville, FL; New York, NY; and other locations nationwide. Our year-long celebration will culminate at our new headquarters in Los Angeles on December 9, 2023, with Target as a proud sponsor of another 5,000 Deployed Troop Care Packages.  

In honor of our 20th anniversary and to secure our future, we invite you to donate to our special “20 for 20” Campaign. With the recent surge in troop deployments, we urgently need your support today. To learn more and to contribute, click here.  

You can also participate in our celebration from home, in person, or with a group or company. To learn how you can get involved from home, please click here! To learn about our 20th anniversary corporate sponsorship opportunities, please click here.

For an overview of our journey over the years, please see the digital copy of our Gratitude journal here.

Finally, we would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to all our volunteers, supporters and partners who have stood with us for the past two decades! It is your unwavering support that has brought us to this remarkable milestone. We are excited about the next 20 years, and we invite you to continue this journey with us.