VAN NUYS, Calif. – Over 10,000 people collected candy and other care package items during November and December to send to members of the U.S. military for the holidays.

The collection was organized by Operation Gratitude, a non-profit organization.

In total, more than 401,052 pounds of candy were collected and shipped.

“Just in this past year, we worked with 48,592 individual and corporate donors who made it possible for us to fulfill our mission of support to the military,” said Angel Cuevas, director of operations for Operation Gratitude and a Marine veteran.

In 2014, Operation Gratitude’s volunteers assembled and shipped 117,279 care packages to deployed soldiers, veterans, military families and first responders.

Operation Gratitude has shipped a total of 1,188,661 care packages since 2003.

Learn more at www.operationgratitude.com.