Operation Gratitude Celebrates Military Appreciation Month With Delivery and a Call to Action for Volunteers Nationwide

Operation Gratitude Volunteers Hand-Assembled 13,000 Care Packages in March; Emily Schwartz Delivered Them to Fort Huachuca in April

LOS ANGELES, CA, UNITED STATES, April 29, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- This May, in recognition of Military Appreciation Month, Operation Gratitude is honoring the service members who protect this nation and inviting communities across the country to join a growing movement of community-driven service.

May is Military Appreciation Month, and for Americans looking for a meaningful way to give back to the men and women who serve this country, Operation Gratitude's Virtual FOB is now live at operationgratitude.com. Volunteers across the United States and abroad are already signing up — all in support of U.S. troops — bringing hands-on acts of service directly to their own communities, on their own time.

In March, hundreds of volunteers hand-assembled 13,000 Care Packages for service members stationed at the southern border. Each package contained snacks, personal care products, handmade items, and handwritten letters from Americans nationwide — a direct and personal expression of appreciation for those serving far from home.

In April, Operation Gratitude President and Executive Director Emily Schwartz traveled to Fort Huachuca in Arizona to hand-deliver those packages to service members in person. What that delivery represented was the full arc of this mission: a volunteer's hands in March, a hero's hands in April.

"To stand there and look these service members in the eye and tell them that hundreds of volunteers packed those packages as a token of appreciation — that they are seen, that they are valued, that people who will never meet them are proud of them — that is what this mission is," said Emily Schwartz, President and Executive Director of Operation Gratitude. "Every single person who played a role in getting those packages there was in that room with me."

This Military Appreciation Month, Operation Gratitude is inviting everyone who wants to be part of that chain — from assembly to delivery — to sign up at operationgratitude.com and join the Virtual FOB.

About Operation Gratitude
Operation Gratitude was founded in 2003 on a simple belief: that gratitude should be something you can hold in your hands. For more than two decades, the organization has mobilized volunteers across the country to hand-assemble care packages, write personal letters, and deliver meaningful acts of thanks directly to deployed troops, veterans, and first responders — more than 4.5 million care packages in total. Operation Gratitude is also the original creator of the Battalion Buddy, a hand-filled bear sent to military children with a deployed parent; nearly 200,000 have been delivered since the program's launch in 2011. A nationwide nonprofit committed to ensuring every person who serves this country feels seen, supported, and genuinely appreciated, Operation Gratitude is one of the largest hands-on volunteer organizations in America. To learn more or find a volunteer opportunity near you, visit operationgratitude.com.

Emily Schwartz
Operation Gratitude
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