Operation Gratitude Marks Month of the Military Child With Battalion Buddy Program and Upcoming Launch of Virtual FOB

Original Creator of the Battalion Buddy Has Delivered 187,000 Hand-Filled Bears to Military Children Since 2011

LOS ANGELES, CA, UNITED STATES, April 7, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- This April, in recognition of the Month of the Military Child, Operation Gratitude is celebrating one of its most cherished programs and announcing that its Virtual FOB (Forward Operating Base) will be available later this month — giving volunteers across the country a new way to give back to those who serve right in their own neighborhoods.

Operation Gratitude is the original creator of the Battalion Buddy, a hand-filled bear sent to military children with a deployed parent. The program is simple in design and profound in impact: volunteers carefully fill each bear by hand, and Operation Gratitude delivers it directly to a child who is waiting for a parent to come home. Since 2011, 187,000 Battalion Buddies have been placed into the hands of military children across the country — each one a tangible reminder that their family's sacrifice is seen and that their community stands with them.

Volunteers and company teams across America have embraced the Battalion Buddy program as a meaningful way to give back. Volunteer and companies organize hands-on team events where employees come together to hand-fill the bears themselves — turning a volunteer day into something genuinely personal. Operation Gratitude then ensures every bear reaches a military child with a deployed parent, closing the loop between the boardroom and the front door of a military family.

The upcoming Virtual FOB represents the next chapter of that mission. What began as a California warehouse operation has grown into a nationwide gratitude movement — and the Virtual FOB makes that expansion real, enabling volunteers in every state to participate in hands-on acts of service without leaving their own communities.

"Military children carry a kind of quiet courage that most of us will never fully understand," said Emily Schwartz, President and Executive Director of Operation Gratitude. "The Battalion Buddy exists because we believe no child should have to wait for a deployed parent without knowing that someone — a stranger, a neighbor, a whole community — took the time to do something just for them. When volunteers come together to hand-fill these bears, something remarkable happens. It stops being an event and starts being a moment of genuine human connection. With our Virtual FOB launching later this month, we're opening that door to volunteers everywhere."

Operation Gratitude invites corporations, community organizations, and individual volunteers to learn more about the Battalion Buddy program and to watch for the Virtual FOB launch later this April.


About Operation Gratitude
Operation Gratitude was founded in 2003 on a simple belief: that gratitude should be something you can hold in your hands. For more than two decades, the organization has mobilized volunteers across the country to hand-assemble care packages, write personal letters, and deliver meaningful acts of thanks directly to deployed troops, veterans, and first responders — more than 4.5 million care packages in total. Operation Gratitude is also the original creator of the Battalion Buddy, a hand-filled bear sent to military children with a deployed parent; nearly 200,000 have been delivered since the program's launch in 2011. A nationwide nonprofit committed to ensuring every person who serves this country feels seen, supported, and genuinely appreciated, Operation Gratitude is one of the largest hands-on volunteer organizations in America. To learn more or find a volunteer opportunity near you, visit OperationGratitude.com.

Emily Schwartz
Operation Gratitude
email us here
Visit us on social media:
LinkedIn
Instagram
Facebook

Legal Disclaimer:

EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.