REDONDO BEACH, Calif., June 1, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Almost 18,000 U.S. servicemen and women in Iraq, Afghanistan and other overseas locations will receive personal "care packages" from the United Services Organization (USO), thanks to the volunteer efforts of Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC).
More than 300 Southern California company employees recently turned a parking lot into a high-energy assembly line making a different kind of equipment for servicemen and women: two-gallon plastic bags containing personal items such as sunscreen, packaged body wipes, granola snacks, playing cards, prepaid international phone cards, disposable razors and chewing gum. During the May 22 event, the volunteers stuffed 17,500 care packages in less than six hours.
Rep. Jane Harman (D-Venice) addressed Northrop Grumman employees in a brief ceremony during the volunteers' lunch break. She was accompanied by Ernesto Gutierrez, a Marine who was gravely wounded in Iraq in 2006. Gutierrez now works in Harman's district office through the Wounded Warriors program, helping other veterans.
"It's people like Ernie whom we are here to honor -- brave service members who put their lives on the line every day," Harman said. "These care packages are one way we show our gratitude for their selfless service. I'm honored that he could join us today."
This event marked the second of five USO care package stuffing events that the sector plans to host in 2010. The overall goal for those events is 50,000 care packages.
"Our employees' dedication to these events is typical of the effort they apply every day delivering Northrop Grumman products to U.S. military personnel," said Gary W. Ervin, corporate vice president and president of Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems sector. "By contributing their personal time and financial resources to the USO and the Operation Care Package program, they show remarkable levels of caring and support for our troops."
Northrop Grumman also presented USO with checks totaling $51,000: $46,000 from USO fund-raising activities by Northrop Grumman employees to support the Bob Hope USO at Los Angeles International Airport, and $5,000 from the company's Employee Charity Organization to support the USO care package program.
The USO is a private, nonprofit organization whose mission is to support the troops by providing morale, welfare and recreation-type services to our men and women in uniform. The USO currently operates more than 145 centers worldwide, including ten mobile canteens located in the continental United States and overseas.
Northrop Grumman Corporation is a leading global security company whose 120,000 employees provide innovative systems, products, and solutions in aerospace, electronics, information systems, shipbuilding and technical services to government and commercial customers worldwide.