Where were you the evening of Thursday, Dec. 12, from 5 to 8 p.m.? If you stopped by the Operation Interdependence open house, you experienced the heartwarming, Christmas spirit of generosity and gratitude for those that sacrifice to preserve our freedom and provide safety for us here at home.
Gilroy-Morgan Hill Patriots, a group of about 60, meet the fourth Thursday of every month.
There are no meetings in November and December because of the dates falling on Thanksgiving and Christmas week. This year, the group decided to host a fundraising event for Operation Interdependence and called it “Holiday For Heroes.”
Operation Interdependence has been active since 2001. Every Tuesday, from 4 to 6 p.m., a donated Gilroy office space, by local Chris Vanni, is filled with nine volunteers who sort through granola bars, trail mix, gum, beef jerky, sunflower seeds, corn nuts, hand wipes, toothbrushes, toothpaste, travel size shampoo, conditioner, lotions and place a selection of these items into quart-sized freezer bags. The most special addition to each baggy is a handwritten letter to a soldier. The group lines up on each side of long tables and resembles an efficient assembly line filling the bags and placing 25 baggies into large shipping boxes.
Each month, 50 or more boxes are shipped to commanders in Afghanistan and distributed to the grateful warriors in many platoons. O.I. has nine distribution centers throughout the country that duplicate this process and Gilroy, through the generosity of it’s community, has the distinction of ranking No. 1! In fact, Gilroy will pick up the slack when other units “stand down.”
If you walked into the office at 8070 Santa Teresa on that Thursday evening last week, you witnessed patriotic men and women in festive wear, sitting at tables writing letters of gratitude to those men and women serving our country. Sgt. Chad Janssen, dressed in fatigues, came over from the Gilroy recruiting office to meet and greet the guests.
Three tables were filled with mouthwatering appetizers and desserts and the air was filled with the holiday scent of warm, spicy cider. There was Christmas music playing in the background as guests walked through the open doors with arms full of cases of granola bars, cookies, hand wipes, nuts and so much more! Many checks were written to support the shipping costs and on one wall was a large stack of boxes ready to ship for a Christmas delivery.
Poster boards lined the walls displaying photos of our heroes, notes written by children to a soldier, letters of thanks received from a squad commander, and newspaper articles about Operation Interdependence in our community. Many of you may remember one tear-jerking article printed in The Dispatch, last year, about a Christopher High School student, Katie, who was contacted by a soldier’s mother when Katie’s letter was found in the pocket of her killed son. The article was selected as one of the best 10 stories of 2012.
A big thank you to GMHP participants for a successful evening. You can still get involved.
To learn more about Operation Interdependence, a 501(c)3, go to www.oidelivers.org or contact Suzi Kugler, area manager at: su********@ya***.com or (408) 847-5906 and go to www.meetup.com/Gilroy-Morgan-Hill-Patriots for more information about GMHP.
