Operation Gratitude Collects Items for Troops at Army/Navy Game with Help from UPS and GalleryCollection.com

Tags: HB News

For the sixth year, Operation Gratitude will join thousands of Cadets, Midshipmen, alumni, parents, sponsors and fans at the 111th Army/Navy Game, to be held at Philadelphia's Lincoln Financial Field Saturday, December 11, 2010.

As part of the Army/Navy Game festivities, fans and Philadelphians are rallying to give back to the troops through Operation Gratitude.

Collection boxes will be located at the entrance of Lincoln Financial Field (11th and Pattison Ave) outside the Comcast Gate on game day. The Philadelphia Sports Congress is teaming with UPS to collect items for the care packages, to include DVDs, CDs and Beanie Babies.  UPS will deliver all donations to Operation Gratitude's headquarters in Van Nuys, California.

In addition, Prudent Publishing's GalleryCollection.com, the leading personalized Christmas cards and corporate Holiday cards publisher in the nation, donated 3,000 holiday cards to distribute at the Army/Navy Game, encouraging fans to write personal letters of appreciation to service members.  The cards will be delivered via the Operation Gratitude care packages.

Holiday cards will also be available for personalization at several Philadelphia hotel welcome tables.

"The Army/Navy Game is a great American sports tradition celebrating the skill and courage of the men and women of the U.S. Military-the very people Operation Gratitude serves," said Carolyn Blashek, founder of the organization.  "We are honored once again to be included in the Army/Navy Game activities, and thank UPS, the Philadelphia Sports Congress, GalleryCollection.com and all Philadelphians for their enormous patriotic support and spirit," she added.

The first Army/Navy Game kicked off in 1890 at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, and became an annual tradition starting in 1930. The game is considered one of the longest lasting rivalries in college football. To learn more about the 2010 game, visit http://www.PhillyLovesArmyNavy.com.

Operation Gratitude expects to send 50,000 care packages to our brave men and women in uniform during the 2010 holiday season, including its milestone 600,000th Care Package on December 11th. Each package costs $15 to ship.  All donations to Operation Gratitude are tax deductible.

About Operation Gratitude

Operation Gratitude annually sends 100,000+ care packages filled with snacks, entertainment items and personal letters of appreciation addressed to individually named U.S. Service Members deployed in harm's way. The organization's mission is to lift morale, bring a smile to a service member's face and express to our Armed Forces the appreciation and support of the American people. Each package contains donated product valued at ~$125 and costs the organization $15 to assemble and ship. For safety and security, assembling of packages occurs at the Army National Guard armory in Van Nuys, California. Since its inception in 2003, Operation Gratitude volunteers have shipped more than 595,000 packages to American Military deployed overseas.  The 600,000th package will be assembled and shipped on December 11, 2010.

Learn more about Operation Gratitude by visiting:

Web:          http://www.OperationGratitude.com

Twitter:     http://www.twitter.com/OpGratitude

Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/OperationGratitude

Blog:          http://OpGrat.wordpress.com

YouTube:   http://www.youtube.com/OpG