Ben Affleck, Kathy Ireland and Patricia Heaton Support "Operation Gratitude"

Academy Award winning Screenwriter Ben Affleck, model Kathy Ireland and two-time Emmy Award-winning actress Patricia Heaton once again joined Operation Gratitude Volunteers to assemble the final round of Holiday Care Packages on Sunday, December 14 at the National Guard Armory in Van Nuys, CA.

Affleck, an actor and director who won the Academy Award for his screenplay "Good Will Hunting," first worked with Operation Gratitude, which sends care packages and letters to men and women serving in the military overseas, in November, 2007. He later appeared on the Regis and Kelly TV show to promote the organization and encourage all Americans to support our Troops.

Ms. Heaton, co-star of the TV series, Everybody Loves Raymond, has been a long-time supporter and volunteer of Operation Gratitude; Ms. Ireland is famous worldwide through her modeling career and clothing line.

The Hollywood stars joined senior Military Officers and hundreds of volunteers on the final day of the record-setting 2008 Holiday Drive, during which the organization will have assembled 70,000 care packages including the milestone 400,000th package on Saturday December 13th.

"At this time, our most urgent need is for personal letters and financial donations to pay the postage on our care packages," said Kathy Ireland, who also joined in the fun. "As we have been blessed by our very generous Corporate product donors, we respectfully encourage supporters to collect funds rather than items now to ensure that we can ship all 70,000 Holiday packages this year."

The group says it also is "always seeking" penpals for men and women serving overseas. Volunteers can sign up at their site, http://www.opgratitude.com/

About Operation Gratitude:

Hundreds of thousands of American troops are deployed in hostile and remote regions of the world, including the Middle East, Afghanistan, Africa, Guantanamo Bay and on ships throughout international waters. The physical conditions they must endure are difficult and they may be separated from loved ones for long periods of time. OPERATION GRATITUDE seeks to lift troops' morale, and bring a smile to their faces by sending care packages addressed to individual service members deployed overseas. OPERATION GRATITUDE care packages contain food, toiletries, entertainment items and personal letters of appreciation, all wrapped with good wishes of love and support.

Through Collection Drives, Letter Writing Campaigns and Donations of requested items or funds for shipping expenses, OPERATION GRATITUDE provides civilians anywhere in America a way to express their respect and appreciation to the men and women of the U.S. military in an active, hands-on manner.

OPERATION GRATITUDE is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, all-volunteer corporation, funded entirely by private donations. For safety and security, the assembling of all packages occurs at the Army National Guard Armory in Van Nuys, California.