An effort that started from encouragement from her job to volunteer has become an annual tradition of giving back for a Leechburg resident.

Brittany McLaughlin organizes an initiative to collect thank-you cards for service members for the California-based nonprofit Operation Gratitude. The nonprofit, founded in 2003, curates care packages to send to deployed troops, veterans, first responders, wounded heroes and caretakers, new service members and military families.

“I always had a great respect for servicemen and women,” she said. “I wanted to try something to make a difference.”

McLaughlin would round up colleagues and community members to write letters and thank-you cards and coloring book pages to mail to Operation Gratitude for its care packages.

In her first year in 2018, she collected 48 letters and coloring pages. Over time, the drive has collected more than 200 items. This year, she received 238 items, including coloring books, thank-you cards, owl crafts, knitted hats and hair cord bracelets.

McLaughlin begins posting on social media and passing out flyers about the initiative in June. She collected items throughout July before shipping them to California. She said she chose July because of Independence Day. The holiday is nestled between Memorial Day and Veterans Day, two other patriotic holidays when people are thinking of servicemen and women, she said.

“It is one thing to show your appreciation to someone you already know,” she said, “but it’s another thing to give thanks and a care package to someone you do not know.”

McLaughlin said her biggest supporters are day cares. She also partnered with King’s Restaurant in Leechburg to receive coloring pages from children who draw on the menu.

Lisa Richards, owner of Little Owls Learning Center and McLaughlin’s sister-in-law, has participated in Operation Gratitude all five years. She encourages 30 to 40 of her kids to help out. The older kids work on projects, and the infants paint their feet to make foot crafts, Richards said.

“It is important for the children to be involved in the community and learn to give back and say thank-you,” she said. “My grandfather is a veteran, and it means a lot to be involved in it.”

This year, the youngsters made red, white and blue owls that said “look who thanks you.” The kids made heroes with capes the previous year, Richards said.

The children get super excited to give back to someone they might not know because they know the receivers will be excited to get it, she said. Richards plans to continue to help out with Operation Gratitude as long as her sister does it.

“I just love being able to help,” she said. “We are a part of several community nonprofits helping out as much as possible to give back to the community I grew up in.”

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