What does Independence day mean to you? Does it include gifts from the heart and Star Spangled generosity? Or do you mainly focus on the celebration aspect of the 4th of July holiday? For our family of employees here at GourmetGiftBaskets.com, we were about to discover what Independence Day truly meant to us.
July 4th Gifts From the Heart — Star Spangled Generosity
We were looking forward to the 4th of July holiday. Spending time with family and friends, a day off from work, and time to relax. That’s when the letter that changed everything arrived. Handwritten and clearly from the heart, it contained a simple request. Not a donation request, but a request for letters and care packages. We receive an extraordinarily large amount of donation requests each month, but this request was clearly not the standard kind.
Not because it was handwritten, but for the selflessness of the request. Concerned about the constitution of the men and women in the companies he manages in Kuwait, Iraq, and the UAE, this Army Sergeant First Class Morale Coordinator had reached out to us to see if there was anything we could do to lift his soldiers’ spirits over the upcoming 4th of July holiday. As mentioned in his first communication with us, “Many of our soldiers here have no family or friends to send them letters and/or care packages.”
The Troops Need Our Support
It was too mind-boggling to imagine. U.S. soldiers with no one in their life to send them a care package or a simple letter to lift their spirits? We couldn’t imagine being on month six of a 9-month deployment, on the most Patriotic day of the year without a reason to celebrate. We couldn’t sit back and do nothing, so we shared the Sergeant’s request with our employees. Then sat back and waited for the donations to roll-in.
We Asked For Too Much
To be completely honest, the first few days of our donation drive were not looking very hopeful. Our donation table was a bit bare (it was honestly empty), and we were more than worried we had made a promise we wouldn’t be able to keep. And we knew why. During the Christmas and Hanukkah holidays, we sponsor a few deserving families from the Seacoast area of New Hampshire where our Corporate Headquarters is located. Our employees always generously donate to these families, so asking them to donate again was clearly asking too much. We weren’t sure what we were going to say to the Sergeant. We knew we would be letting him down.
Gifts From The Heart
Then something miraculous happened. The donation table began to fill up. And donation after donation had to be stacked on top of each other. So much so that they overflowed onto the next table. And then we needed to move the donations to another room because those tables weren’t big enough! We couldn’t believe what we were seeing because we had never experienced this level of generosity from our employees before. Our donations filled 6 boxes and totaled 230 pounds. Turns out these military men and women, stationed in the Middle East, had given us a real reason to celebrate! We were reminded that they put their lives on the line for us every day so that we can live free, and they deserved our thanks.
Star Spangled Generosity
So this 4th of July, as you celebrate with family and friends, join us in remembering the sacrifices of our military servicewomen and men. For without their Service to our great Country, we wouldn’t be celebrating our freedom today.
If you would like to send a care package to our military troops stationed abroad, here is a guide to help you find an organization to send care packages for Troops through. If you are reading this before October of 2019, please consider sending your military donation to:
Morale Coordinator
HHC, 64th BSB, 3ABCT, 4ID
APO, Ae. 09330
From our GGB family of employees to you, have a happy and safe 4th of July!
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