Carlisle Post 477 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars has conducted three drives in the past to provide comfort items to Pennsylvania Army National Guard troops deployed to Afghanistan, Poland, Kuwait and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. These drives were called Operation Gratitude I, II and III and through the generous contributions of local businesses and community service organizations, over 5,000 pounds of items sorely missed by our local heroes was shipped to them.
In September of this year, the 108th Field Artillery Battalion, headquartered here in Carlisle, PA deployed 180 soldiers to four locations in Africa. These soldiers will be sacrificing time away from their families until June of next year. In a gesture of thanks and appreciation for their service, VFW Post 477 is initiating Operation Gratitude Phase IV, to send comfort items to our Pennsylvania heroes serving abroad during the Christmas holiday. A list of items we intend to send them is on the attached flyer.
Additionally, we would like the holidays for the families left behind to be a little brighter. We plan on providing gift cards to each family to help in providing a Christmas dinner and gift cards for each child for toys.
Your participation in previous Operation Gratitude drives shows you already know how good it felt when we sent a “Taste of Home” to them. Nothing says we care and are thinking about our troops overseas like a box of these items from the USA. I sincerely hope that you will donate to this year’s Operation Gratitude endeavor. Your contribution can be a tax-free monetary contribution, a purchase of items requested by the troops (see Flyer) or the donation of single serve non-perishable products, which can be enjoyed by our young warriors.
As Senior Vice Commander of VFW Post 477, and Chairman of Operation Gratitude IV, I would like to thank you in advance for considering to donate to this year’s Operation Gratitude. The deadline for tax free donations (EIN 231182430) is 29 November 2024. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at (301) 292-8768, or dick.mccoy@comcast.net.
Date and Time
Friday Nov 29, 2024
