Operation Gratitude Delivers Thanks to Pasadena’s First Responders

An organization whose primary mission is to lift the spirits and meet the evolving needs of military personnel stopped by Pasadena Police Department headquarters Wednesday.

“Thank you guys so much for your service in keeping us safe here at home,” Operation Gratitude’s Senior Director of Volunteer and Community Engagement Stacey Danlyan told a group of about two dozen police officers and civilian personnel.

Danlyan and three other Operation Gratitude volunteers delivered hundreds of “care packages” in red pouches.

Getting “all sorts of fun things together for all of you who serve” was, she said, their way to “give back.”

Pasadena Police Lt. Tracey Ibarra said the group delivered care packages for the entire Department “family,” noting that law enforcement in Pasadena is comprised only of field officers but also “by the civilians, by the jailers and dispatchers and our explorers and our volunteers.”

This is not an easy time for police departments across the country.

“In social media, what you see lately is a lot of negativity towards law enforcement,” Commander Cheryl Moody said as the care packages were offloaded from Operation Gratitude’s delivery truck.

“For the officers who are really hard working and the personnel. Their heart is really in the right place and they will continue to do what’s right for the community – often unthanked,” she said. “For this organization to think of us, to come in and say thank you — it means a lot.”

The Operation Gratitude made a second delivery to a nearby school campus where more first responders —the SWAT team, the crisis negotiation team, and Police and Fire Explorers — were conducting training.

For more about Operation Gratitude, visit https://www.operationgratitude.com/