Operation Gratitude

I’m blessed to have a work schedule that leaves my afternoons free to do as I please. I love lunching with friends, working on personal projects, my regular hikes at Runyon Canyon, happy hours all over Los Angeles.

However, I’d be remiss not to use that free time doing something valuable. My friend Nikki posted on her Facebook page the other day calling for volunteers to help prepare care packages for the children of deploying troops. I thought, “Count me in!”

I drove out to the National Guard Armory in Van Nuys and was welcomed by Nikki and her fellow colleagues at Keller Williams Realty. They were participating in their annual RED Day initiative (read more about it here).

Our mission: to assemble 700 care packages for Operation Gratitude. Operation Gratitude is a non-profit organization that aims to lift morale for “U.S. service members deployed in hostile regions, to their children left behind and to wounded warriors recuperating in transition units.”

The armory was filled with boxes and boxes of children’s books, magazines, girl scout cookies and fruit snacks. Most notable were the soft, adorable teddy bears. In a perfectly organized assembly line, we dressed the bears – known as Battalion Buddies – in army jackets and attached tags to their necks that state the following:

Hi Brave Young Warrior: I am your Battalion Buddy! I am here to cuddle and play with you while Mommy or Daddy is away! And my friends at Operation Gratitude will be sending a little something to Mommy or Daddy, too!

Then in an even more impressively organized assembly line, we packaged these bears – along with the snacks and items noted above – into USPS boxes and prepared them for shipping. Each of our parts was so simple, but the impact of what we were doing was not lost on us. And how could it, when patriotic anthems such as “Born in the USA” were playing in the background the whole time

The organizers are so good at what they do, and we were all having so much fun – we finished 700 packages in no time. Here we are with a few of those packages:

With time left to spare for the day, a few of us stayed afterwards to participate in another activity: making paracord “survival” bracelets for first responders.

Paracord bracelets are hand-woven out of actual parachute cords. They symbolize support for our military and first responders. They’re also multi-purpose and can be used in the event of emergencies.

None of us knew how to weave these bracelets, but a brief classroom tutorial quickly turned us all into macramé experts. The bracelets are super easy (and slightly addicting!) to make.

I felt so energized when I left the armory. There are gonna be a couple hundred kids with smiles on their faces and I had a small part in that. Small. But it felt good.

Click here for more information on Team Rubicon and their first responder packages.

Click here to learn how to make a paracord bracelet.

If you’re interested in Operation Gratitude and the volunteer opportunities there, visit their website at www.operationgratitude.com.