As you’ve been out shopping and consuming mass quantities and doing other good-consumer things, you’ve no doubt probably noticed the donation bins at places like Jewel and Staples for jackets and shoes and other miscellany, respectively. Those both go directly to the homeless, and while they are certainly still worthy receipients of your charity, here’s another alternative if you want to support our troops with your donations instead or in addition.
Operation Gratitude is such an endeavor, and via its partnership with Champion Logistics Group, and if you want to enlist, as it were, CLG will drop off a “large” Operation Gratitude box for you to place in your office.
Obviously, because it’s a charitable donation, neither Operation Gratitude nor CLG is being picky-picky, but together they have assembled a wishlist, if you will, of what the ideal care packages will include. To date, OG has sent more than 850,000 of them. So bear that in mind and see if you can spare any of the following (this comes, verbatim, directly from them):
- Knit Hats and Scarves
- Yarn for our knitters to make scarves
- Paracord Survival Bracelets
- Beanie Babies, Webkinz or other Small Plush Toys
- Sports style Socks (preferably black, brown, green, tan; not white)
- DVDs and CDs
- Commercially sealed Lip Balm, toothpaste, toothbrushes, roll-on deodorant, sunscreen
- Travel Size containers of Foot Powder
- Individually packaged razors
- Travel-Size Board Games, Handheld electronic games
- Hand and Foot Warmers
- Commercially packaged Energy Bars, Beef Jerky, Healthy Snacks
- Screen Printed T-Shirts, Baseball Style Caps, Gloves
- Holiday and General Occasion Greeting Cards (blank)
- Unsealed personal cards and letters of appreciation to the troops
For more information, hop on over here.
David Wolinsky is a freelance writer and a lifelong Chicagoan. In addition to currently serving as an interviewer-writer for Adult Swim, he's also a comedy-writing instructor for Second City. He was the Chicago city editor for The Onion A.V. Club where he provided in-depth daily coverage of this city's bustling arts/entertainment scene for half a decade. When not playing video games for work he's thinking of dashing out to Chicago Diner, Pizano's, or Yummy Yummy. His first career aspirations were to be a game-show host.
