First lady Jill Biden and dozens of gubernatorial spouses in town for the National Governors Association meeting this weekend have been hard at work since about 2:15 in the East Room, assembling care packages for Operation Gratitude. The goal is 1,000 boxes in 90 minutes. The boxes are intended for National Guard personnel deployed to help with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr. Biden welcomed the spouses, with Arkansas first lady Susan Hutchinson, whose husband chairs the NGA, at her side. Dr. Biden and Hutchinson mostly stuck together for the assembly line.
Dr. Biden urged them to stick around afterwards. "I want you to take your time. I want you to look through the different rooms. … Look up at the ceiling. Every day I discovered something amazing and wonderful and beautiful. And I just think it's so great that we all came together and instead of eating” – she was referring to the fact that everyone was masked. “Even more important that we come together and yet we do something together especially for our military.”
All but two of the spouses are women. The second gentleman is here, too.
Rich Headley, a Marine veteran and senior director of military and veteran programs for Operation Gratitude, gave instructions on assembling the boxes, in full drill sergeant voice filling the ornate room. Important to start by filling the bottom corners or it wouldn’t all fit:
A box of Fudge Stripes cookies. A handmade blank card for soldiers to write home with. Bag of Caffe Verona Starbucks. Hand-knit scarves and hats. Milk chocolate oranges, 5-Hour Energy. Snack bars. Gum. Beanie Babies. A small bag of Cracker Jack. Packet of tissues. A camouflage draw string bag. Nerds. The most unusual present: a bracelet that stretches to about 7 feet – “paracord survival bracelet” – for use as a tie down.
Headley told a quick story about how a Beanie Baby had saved lives in Iraq when a Marine gave one to a child and then next day, the child warned him not to go down a particular road because of IEDs.
At the end of the line, just before the volunteers closing the boxes with packing tape, were two Defense Department spouses, Hollyanne Milley and Charlene Austin.
They were tucking in red white and blue gaiters, hand-written thank you notes from people around the country, and a card from the White House as the final touches on the care package.
Two long lines of tables were set south to north in the East Room. At the south end of the room were stacks of empty boxes waiting to be filled – so high they were taller than the military officer standing nearby, though slightly shorter than two of the Secret Service agents stationed at that end of the room.
At one point Mrs. Hutchinson unfolded a scarf and seemed to be admiring the craftsmanship before folding it and putting it in a box.
About a half- hour into the assembly, with the pool having gathered about all the footage and color they could, Dr. Biden invited the pool to come around the table and pitch in.
Peppy music played in the back – like, “Walking on Sunshine” as the stack of empty boxes shrank and the stack of filled and sealed boxes grew at the far end of the room.
Dr. Biden chatted with various first spouses as the process went on.