Inside Operation We Care’s prep for annual packing party

Veterans Day may be officially observed in the U.S. on November 11th. However, for one local organization they say every day is Veterans Day.

Jeff Merritt of Operation We Care says, “Eight- thousand three- hundred and sixty- four.”

The number Merritt is referring to is the amount of care packages Operation We Care has stuffed at their annual packing party to date.

Merritt continues, “That means eight- thousand three- hundred and sixty- four troops have received our care packages. That doesn’t count the families that have felt the support that we’ve given our soldiers.”

Operation We Care, a non-profit, plans to have the same impact on Sunday.

Merritt is the man behind the magic of the organization and says they’ve officially hit crunch mode as far as collecting supplies for the boxes. They could always use more donations.  

On Wednesday, 47 ABC took a look inside the group’s trailers to check out what the troops will be getting this year.   

Merritt says, “We have approximately four hundred pounds of Halloween candy and loose candy. We actually sprinkle this in the top of the box once it’s complete. It tightens the box and you put something in the corner and it flattens everything out.”

Merritt says hot items include shampoo and body wash, ravioli, cases of ramen noodles and pop tarts.

Pop tarts and oat meal are individually placed inside plastic baggies so that soldiers are able to reuse them.  

Products like baby wipes are multi-purpose.  Merritt says, “They clean obviously their bodies with them and in a pinch they can clean their weapons with these.” 

If you would like to would like to help Operation We Care, they would like to have donations in by the November 13th.

However, if donations come in after that date, the supplies can be used for their packing party in the spring.

For more information on donation drop off locations, click here.