Operation Gratitude has been sending care packages to American troops deployed in harm's way since 2003, when Carolyn Blashek started packing boxes in her dining room, according to her husband Rob Blashek. Now 600,000 gift packages will be delivered thanks to thousands of volunteers, corporations and individual donors.

That milestone 600,000th rolled off the assembly line at the California National Guard Armory in Van Nuys on Saturday morning. According to Bill Hayes of the Boozefighters Motorcycle Club, the package contains the keys to a motorcycle donated by Victory Motorcycles, a division of Polaris Industries.

The rest of the care packages are filled with personal hygiene items, candy bars, CDs and reading material, handmade hats and scarves, Girl Scout cookies and most importantly, personal letters from home. Some of those letters were written by children during Mitzvah Day at Adat Ari El and Temple Beth Hillel.

In 2008, pair of Jewish Operation Gratitude volunteers, Marsha Roseman and Joan Rimmon, founded a spin-off organization called Project MOT, which serves Jewish service members, particularly during holiday times. For the big Hanukkah effort, members of Adat Ari El in Valley Village "contributed many items to our packages, including candy gelt, dreidels and cards to the troops," said Rimmon.

Maj. Gen. John S. Harrel, commanding general of the California Army National Guard, told Patch in a video interview that the letters from children have a tremendous impact.  While music and playing cards are great to receive, the troops are most heartened by the knowledge that the folks back home are thinking of them.

An estimated 1,000 volunteers were on hand today, working in factory fashion to get those boxes packed. Their accomplishment was celebrated by local politicians, including Los Angeles City Controller Wendy Gruell and Los Angeles City Councilmember Dennis Zine. Even Santa Clause flew in for the event.

No mention was made of war or politics. The crowd was clearly there to support the men and women in uniform. Carolyn Blashek called today's event "the best support-the-troops rally in the country."

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified  the organization that donated a motorcycle to the 600,000th package as Boozefighters Motorcycle Club. The correct organization is Victory Motorcycles.