Operation: Old Admin

Old Admin buzzed with over 50 volunteers participating in Operation Gratitude and a stress ball project, both of which gave back to troops, veterans and many more in need, Saturday at CSC’s The Big Event.

With streamed music pouring into the room, volunteers got to jam out while they penned letters for Operation Gratitude, a nonprofit organization that sends over 300,000 care packages per year to deployed troops, veterans and even caregivers and family members left behind. According to operationgratitude.com, each care package includes “snacks, hygiene products, entertainment and handmade items,” including personal letters of support.

“I think this one is pretty cool because we actually get to talk to the people that get these (letters),” Rebecca Watson, freshman of Harrison, said. “We get to put our address and everything.

Kelsey Winner, freshman of Chadron, added that she hopes she gets correspondence back.

“I really hope somebody emails or writes me back,” Winner said.

After a 2003 encounter with a soldier who had lost his mother, wife and child, founder Carolyn Blashek created Operation Gratitude to remind troops that those back home still care for troops as individuals. Through volunteer-organized drives much like The Big Event, Operation Gratitude receives donations for care packages, sending them to those who dedicate their lives to America’s service.  

Upstairs, volunteers from Criminal Justice and Legal Studies got their hands dirty making stress balls from balloons and sand. Each table was equipped with a 5-gallon bucket filled with sand, a trash bag to clean up spillage and a bag of balloons to create the balls. Around 95 balloons were dispersed at each table’s end, adding up to roughly 300 stress balls for Nebraska’s flood victims, hospitals and nursing homes. 

Freshmen Emma Alexander, of Sidney, and Kelsey Crock, of Cheyenne, Wyoming, said they were glad they got placed in the stress ball project jobsite.

“It was definitely fun,” Crock said.

Besides being a lively jobsite, Justice Studies Coordinator Kate Pope felt the project extended beyond service to Chadron’s community and lent a helping hand to all of Nebraska.

“I’m really excited to be a part of this and how we can change not only our community but others in Nebraska,” Pope said.