University of New Mexico Press has donated over 400 pounds of books to Operation Gratitude for American troops who are away from home this holiday season.
Operation Gratitude is a non-profit organization that assembles and sends care packages to troops who are deployed overseas. The non-profit organization has been in operation since 2003.The care packages are also sent to military children, first-responders, veterans, new recruits, wounded-heroes and their caregivers, according to Operation Gratitude’s website.
Each care package contains snacks, hygiene products, entertainment and handmade items, as well as personal support, in the form of cards or letters.
UNM Press’ Warehouse Manager Susan Coatney had the idea to gather and donate the books in order to make the troops feel more at home after an email was sent out from the UNM Employee Wellness department who organized the drive.
“It’s a great way to thank our service women and men and we just had some overstock books so I presented it and it became a thing,” Coatney said.
Coatney said the warehouse wanted to gather a variety of books together for the drive, such as books of poetry, novels or children’s books.
Since 2013, UNM Employee Wellness has organized and coordinated the collection drives at various locations across campus.
“We have drop-off boxes throughout North Campus, main campus and we even had some on South Campus as well, and we had Taos,” said Vanessa Roybal, health educator and Employee Wellness program coordinator. “Taos also was able to participate too, so it’s not just in Albuquerque, we’re able to branch out into the branch campuses.”
UNM Mailing Systems collaborated with UNM Employee Wellness to pick up donations left in the drop-off bins — Roybal said this year there were over 30 sites.
All donations, such as leftover Halloween candy, toiletries, condiments or words of gratitude, go to the Blue Star Mothers of Valencia County, a chapter of the Blue Star Mothers of America organization.
The Blue Star Mothers of America organization sends gifts to members of the Armed Forces or people who have children serving in the military, guard or reserves, or veterans, according to their website.
UNM Press donated more than 450 pounds worth of books to the drive, said Tracey Briggs, UNM Employee Wellness supervisor.
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So far UNM Employee Wellness already have had over 1,900 pounds of donated candy and toiletries, and donations are still being made — Briggs said they hope to reach 2,200 pounds of donations this year.
“This season of Thanksgiving, there’s nothing more profound than to give back in the way that UNM does and we’re very grateful for the UNM population for giving freely to this program and we just hope it keeps growing every year,” Briggs said.
Alyssa Bitsie is a freelance reporter with the Daily Lobo. She can be contacted at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Albitsie.
