April 2021 Newsletter

Apr 16

Troopathon Receives it's 8th Consecutive Top-Rated Nonprofits Award

We are humbled and honored to announce that Troopathon has been honored with the prestigious Top-Rated Award by GreatNonprofits for 2021. This makes our 8th straight year of receiving this prestigious recognition.

At Troopathon, we strive to deliver quality care packages for our troops and a great experience for our volunteers and supporters.

This Top-Rated Nonprofit Award was based on the large number of positive reviews that Troopathon received. Individuals post their personal experience of volunteering for us as well as the personal experience of deployed troops who have received care packages from our organization.

GreatNonprofits is the leading site for donors and volunteers to find reviews and ratings of nonprofits. Reviews on the site influence 30 million donation decisions a year. Visit www.greatnonprofits.org for more information. The GreatNonprofits Top-Rated Awards program started in 2010 and it is now widely known as the most influential \"people\'s choice\" awards for outstanding nonprofits, large and small.

We will continue our goal of supporting our troops and making Troopathon a truly memorable experience for our troops serving far from home. Thanks to GreatNonprofits, our supporters can feel confident that our mission is being carried out to the best of our abilities and from start to finish we are all in for our troops.

Thank you volunteers from Boy Scout Troop 29!

Local troop 29 Boy Scouts were happy to pitch in to help us pack boxes and get them ready for shipment to our troops. Their \"can do\" approach helped make sure over 300 boxes will be heading out filled with goodies.

Come volunteer! It's the Troopathon battle cry! We definitely would not be able to succeed without the dedication and enthusiasm of our volunteers. Many scouting troops regularly show up at our doors ready, willing and able to pack up boxes destined for our troops.

Michelle is a parent volunteer and our point of contact with Troop 29, a boy scout troop out of Rocklin, CA with boys ranging from age 11-17. Michelle has a 12-year-old son who bridged into the troop from cub scouts a year ago. This was Troop 29’s first volunteer effort with Troopathon. “I work for a company neighboring Troopathon and Scott sent an email calling for volunteers. My boys are in scouting and I thought this would be a great service project for the local troop we are involved with.” Said Michelle.

\"Thank you again for this great service project. The boys enjoyed themselves and felt accomplished. What a wonderful way to give back!\"

When asked what the scouts enjoyed the most about the experience, Michelle had this to say:” The scouts enjoyed volunteering. They felt proud to help fellow Americans who are serving our country. They enjoyed the challenge, and quick pace of the work. I was proud to see them adjust their job to help keep the assembly line moving when the line backed up. They wrote letters of encouragement and humor to include into care packages.”

“We had one scout who has a cousin in bootcamp and was eager to come back and package a care package specifically for him once he is out of bootcamp and on to his first assignment.”

“The volunteer opportunity with Troopathon was very organized and easy to set up. Scott was responsive and inviting. He did a great job with instructions and his adult volunteers were great assisting the scouts with new skills such as taping boxes in the specific way Troopathon wants.” Added Michelle.

We were happy to host them and help them learn the value of service and giving back through volunteer projects such as our. We are happy to report Michelle and the kids of Troop 29 enjoyed the volunteer experience that they are eager to come back again to pitch in. \"We would like to come back, I plan on challenging the troop to get more scouts to participate and to beat our 300 packages!\"

Corn Nuts: the crunchy salty treat that delivers the satisfying crunch our troops crave!

Corn Nuts made by Love Corn offers a crunchy delicious snack for our troops that holds up great in shipping where other snacks might just crumble under the tough conditions our troops often find themselves in.

We are proud to offer Love Corn corn nuts snacks in our current rotation of soldier care packages. Love Corn focuses on community and giving back. They make a premium heathy, plant based, gluten free, kosher, non GMO snack with simple ingredients you can pronounce like corn, sea salt and sunflower oil. Love Corn comes in convenient snack sized bags out troops can easily carry with them when they need to tear into a tasty treat that provides the burst of energy and nutrition our hard working troops need. Imagine what it must be like, working long hours far from home, around 2:00 a.m. that midwatch can seem endless and lonely! Now imagine reaching into your field pack and finding the delicious goodness of a hearty snack that provides the satisfying crunchy salty goodness. That long, grinding shift just got a whole lot more tolerable knowing folks back home were thinking of you. You can almost feel the smile of that soldiers face, that\'s why we are dedicated to keeping top quality snacks in our troops care packages!

April is Month of the Military Child

April is nationally known as Month of the Military Child and is our opportunity to remember all the “military brats” out there who often go months without seeing mom or dad.

At Troopathon, we come together to celebrate and support our military children. This year, as part of that support April 14th has been designated by the Department of Defense as a day to \"PURPLE UP\". It is a day for our military kids to wear purple, a color designated to represent all branches of our military. Military kids are encouraged to wear their purple gear and share their photos with the hashtag #PurpleUP21 and #MOMC2021. What a great way to let our troops know we are looking after their kids and proud of them by showing our support of their families! We encourage all military supporters to join us by celebrating the Month of the Military Child. You can find special resources to support our military kids on militaryonesource.mil including special programs and offers.

We though you might enjoy some very special photos we have received over the years of our military heroes and their kids during this special Month of the Military Child 2021.