Pear Tree Greetings & Operation Gratitude Launch Campaign For Kids To Send 75,000 Thank You Cards To Troops This Holiday Season

NORTH MANKATO, Minn., Nov. 1, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- "Send a note, share a smile" is the message of Pear Tree Greetings and Operation Gratitude's campaign launching today, encouraging kids across America to write and send 75,000 thank you cards to our men and women in the military this holiday season.

Pear Tree Greetings, a top manufacturer of personalized note cards and Christmas card designs, will send a free package of 30 color-in thank you cards to the first 2,500 elementary school teachers who sign up at http://gratitude.peartreegreetings.com. Teachers will then have their students write and color on the cards to express their thanks to the troops in Afghanistan and Iraq for their service.  Teachers will then mail the cards to Operation Gratitude, a California-based non-profit organization whose mission is to send care packages to the U.S. service men and women currently in harm's way.

"Pear Tree Greetings believes in the power of connection, especially by offering a handwritten note," said Liwanag Ojala, President of Pear Tree Greetings.  "Through this partnership with Operation Gratitude, teachers across the country are encouraged to instill in their students the value and joy of saying thank you.  It's a great opportunity for a classroom lesson in geography, writing, creativity, and, most critically, in gratitude. Plus, it's fun: The cards are meant to be colored!  A heartfelt card from a child will surely lift the morale of our men and women in the military.  After all, who doesn't like a smile?"

"We are absolutely delighted to partner with Pear Tree Greetings to encourage schoolchildren to put pen to paper and send thanks to our military overseas this holiday season," said Carolyn Blashek, founder of Operation Gratitude.  "This is a win-win program, teaching a valuable lesson in the classroom, while making a real impact with 75,000 troops.  I only wish I could see our troops' faces when they open these wonderful personalized cards from kids across the country.  It will be most heartwarming for everyone involved."

Please visit http://www.PearTreeGreetings.com for details and additional information about the campaign to send thank you cards to troops this holiday season.

About Pear Tree Greetings: Pear Tree Greetings offers an array of stationery for a variety of occasions including save the date cards, Christmas cards, graduation invitations, and birth announcements. It also hosts a blog that presents new product ideas, highlights personalization tips and allows consumers to share ideas. Winner of SheKnows 2010 Parents' Choice Award, Pear Tree's custom greetings are made simple, affordable, and absolutely keep-worthy. For more information about the company, please visit http://www.PearTreeGreetings.com.

About Operation Gratitude: Operation Gratitude annually sends 100,000+ care packages filled with snacks, entertainment items and personal letters of appreciation addressed to individually named U.S. Service Members deployed in harm's way. Our mission is to lift morale, bring a smile to a service member's face and express to our Armed Forces the appreciation and support of the American people. Each package contains donated product valued at ~$125 and costs the organization $15 to assemble and ship. For safety and security, assembling of packages occurs at the Army National Guard armory in Van Nuys, California. Since its inception in 2003, Operation Gratitude volunteers have shipped more than 560,000 packages to American Military deployed overseas.  For more information: Visit www.OperationGratitude.com; "like" http://www.facebook.com/OperationGratitude or "follow" http://www.twitter.com/OpGratitude.

SOURCE Pear Tree Greetings