Operation Gratitude Archives

Support Share Our Strength Or Operation Gratitude Hickory Farms Party Planner Gift Box

December 17, 2012 by Momstart 9 Comments

As much as I love charity, I hope you guys know about Share Our Strength and Operation Gratitude. If not, let me remind you what we’ve shared with you about each program in the past here at MomStart.

No child should grow up hungry in America, but one in five children struggles with hunger. Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry campaign is ending childhood hunger in America by ensuring all children get the healthy food they need, every day.

Operation Gratitude is a non-profit organization with supports people serving in the US Armed Forces through morale support gift packages. Gift packages are sent year round and can contain personal hygiene items, edible treats, stuffed animals and lovies, homemade knit and crochet items, and hand written letters of thanks.

As a team, we’ve worked to help both of these charities in different ways over the years. Now I’m going to share with you how enjoying your favorite summer sausage can help someone in need. Hickory Farms Signature Summer Sausage was recently rated the #1 Summer Sausage in America, winning the Masters of Taste Gold Medal for Superior Taste, in 2011. Hickory Farms offers a variety of specialty foods and holiday food gifts that are perfect for any budget and for everyone on your list this year. Hickory Farms has a partnership with Operation Gratitude – a national nonprofit that creates care packages for military men and women and their families. Hickory Farms has eight products that they offer free shipping to military APO and FPO addresses, including the “Home for the Holidays” gift basket featured in the product fact sheet.

For a limited time this holiday season, for each Party Planner Gift Box sold, Hickory Farms will donate $5 to Share Our Strength, a leading national non-profit organization working to end childhood hunger in America. Additionally, for 40 of these gift items, Hickory Farms provides free military shipping, allowing our troops across the globe to share in holiday traditions. To date Hickory Farms and its customers have donated $1.9 million

You can find many gift basket varieties and many fruit baskets online at Hickoryfarms.com and in one of 700 holiday stores and kiosks across North America, as well as in select retailers. So head out to the mall, local retailer or sit on the couch and pick out something that’s perfect for you!

For more information about the brand, just visit, Hickory Farms Facebook page. For more than 60 years Hickory Farms has been providing holiday shoppers with options that not only present beautifully, but also taste delicious

Compensation and products for review were provided by Hickory Farms via MomTrends. I received a free sample of the product for the purpose of this review and to facilitate a giveaway. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions of Hickory Farms.

Season of Giving: Send Halloween Candy To Operation Gratitude

November 1, 2011 by Momstart 16 Comments

Summer and I both share a passion for giving to charity. So she’s decided to spend November helping our readers find ways to give to others. Since yesterday was Halloween you might need an idea for all that extra Halloween Candy……Here is Day one of Season of Giving by Summer:

Each year I buy my kids’ Halloween candy from them; we literally pay them for each piece collected. I separate the candy in a pile of keeps and not keeping. The keeps we ration throughout the year with our at-home movie concession stand which I use to teach my children about the value of money. For the past three or four years we’ve had family or a close friend’s family deployed overseas serving our nation as in the military or civilian assisting the military, and the other pile is sent to them to boost their morale and share with their friends over there with them. These man and women long for the comforts and familiarities of home; so my family does our part by sending our unwanted Halloween candy and who doesn’t love a little treat, right? Plus in some of those places you just can’t get the same stuff we’re use to here.

This year, I have organized to give our candy to Operation Gratitude. Operation Gratitude is a non-profit organization with supports people serving in the US Armed Forces through morale support gift packages. Gift packages are sent year round and can contain personal hygiene items, edible treats, stuffed animals and lovies, homemade knit and crochet items, and hand written letters of thanks.

Operation Gratitude takes your unwanted Halloween candy and ships it in care packages to our Armed Forces men and women. All they ask of you is that you separate your chocolate from non-chocolate candy and send it in separate cartons which are labeled accordingly. This is a great opportunity to get your community – neighborhood or school – involved in giving. You can also get your dentist or pediatric dentist involved though Operation Gratitude’s “Candy Buy Back” program.

To show your support you can “Like” Operation Gratitude’s Halloween Candy Buy-Back Program on Facebook. You can also “Like” Operation Gratitude on Facebook. You can also keep up with Operation Gratitude on Twitter @OpGratitude.

About Summer:

Summer is very active in our Local MOMS Club chapter, she is the mother of two adorable active boys, and is always thinking of ways to help others. She is a friend, a wife, and always busy as all mommies are. She is very active on Facebook, addicted to Geocaching and very interested in organic and green living while cooking up a storm.

Recycle Cell Phones through Operation Gratitude

December 9, 2010 by Momstart 8 Comments

Yesterday Summer brought us a way to make a little green while being green. Now that’s a great way to get rid of any electronic that you might have, however, wouldn’t it be great to help someone instead?

Even if you can’t support the current war, all of us can agree to support the troops over there. There need not be common ground on the battle for you to show the members of the U.S. military some gratitude. Are you upgrading your phone this year? I just got the Samsung Focus Windows Phone 7. I need to transfer some numbers but then I’ll recycle my old phone for free through Operation Gratitude. Through GRC Wireless Recycling, Operation Gratitude will earn 50¢ – $30 per phone with which to purchase care packages such as food, toiletries, and entertainment items to send to service members in harm’s way. GRC recycles cell phones through an environmentally responsible, zero landfill process by either reusing phones as refurbished products or literally recycling them by scrapping them for the metals.

Now Summer, I need you to tell all of us how to not be lazy. I’m terrible about cell phones. We have 3 or 4 that we just let the kids play with. I’m sure if someone somewhere had a charger half of them would still work.

About Summer:

Summer is the President of our Local MOMS Club chapter, she is the mother of two adorable active boys, and is always thinking of ways to help others. She is a friend, a wife, and always busy as all mommies are. She is very active on Facebook, addicted to Geocaching and very interested in organic and green living.