October 31 is the time of the year when children get to dress up and walk to houses to get some candies from trick-or-treating. According to reports, there is this project called Operation Gratitude wherein children will donate some of their trick-or-treating candies to soldiers thousands of miles away from their home.
Operation Gratitude has reportedly sent more than 700,000 pounds of Halloween candies to U.S. military members deployed away from the United States last year. This year, kids and adults are being asked to join Operation Gratitude in order to send more candies to troops in different parts of the world. The donations, which will be placed inside care packages with letters on them, will be accepted until mid-November, Today reported.
Operation Gratitude founder Carolyn Blashek said in a statement that the drive provides children in America a chance to say thank you to the soldiers. She also added that this is an oppurtunity for the children to learn about service and giving.
In the past, Operation Gratitude partners with dentists in the year 2007 to buy back candies from children and use these sweets to send to military veterans. Since the Operation Gratitude drive began in 2007, schools, churches, restaurant chains and many more have donated candies. It is then expected that the figures will increase this year.
Tap into Chatham also reported that one dentist named Allyson Hurley, who owns Chatham Cosmetic and Family Dentistry, said that she collects unopened candies and beanie babies every year in order to send it to Operation Gratitude in California. Hurley added, "Some of them are suicidal. If you can write a letter to the troops, it can make a big difference. They send individual boxes to each soldier who is in a war zone, with their name on a box."
The principal of Alice M. Barrows Elementary School in Reading, Massachusetts also shared in a statement that they hope their students participating for Operation Gratitude will know more about the troops outside the United States. In this way, they will become more aware about the sacrifices brought about by service for the country that is happening outside America.
