Attendees were served a complimentary lunch courtesy of several community organizations and local businesses. Adding a holiday touch, Santa Claus was on hand giving out gifts to all the children.

Best Buy, the consumer electronics giant, revealed two Home Entertainment Systems--one each for the Millionth and the One Millionth & One packages. The systems included 55 and 32-inch Insignia TVs, Rocketfish wireless speakers, Insignia digital cameras and picture frames,a plethora of Rocketfish accessories, plus iPads.

 Catching the crowd completely off-guard, Living Essentials, LLC, the distributor of 5-hour ENERGY® shots, unveiled the major gift for the recipient of Operation Gratitude's One Millionth Care Package: a Ford F-150 pickup truck. The vehicle will be delivered to the soon-to-be-revealed service member upon returning home from deployment next Spring.

"Our One Millionth Care Package represents the enormous generosity and support of patriotic Americans and businesses all across the country," said Carolyn Blashek, founder of Operation Gratitude."We are thrilled that Upper Deck, Best Buy and 5-hour ENERGY® donated such extraordinary gifts to the milestone package recipient, who today represents all the members of the greatest Military on earth."

An exciting secret overseas delivery of The One Millionth Care Package, containing symbolic keys to the Ford F-150 and certificates for the other gifts, will be revealed to the public through social and traditional media in the coming week.

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About Operation Gratitude: Operation Gratitude annually sends 100,000+ care packages filled with snacks, entertainment and hand-made items and personal letters of appreciation addressed to Veterans, First Responders, Wounded Warriors, Care Givers and to individually named U.S. Service Members deployed in hostile regions. Our mission is to lift the spirits and meet the evolving needs of our Active Duty and Veteran communities, and provide volunteer opportunities for all Americans to express their appreciation to members of our Military. Each package contains donated product valued at $75-100 and costs the organization $15 to assemble and ship. Since its inception in 2003, Operation Gratitude volunteers have shipped more than One Million care packages.

Experience Brucemore, an unparalleled blend of tradition and culture, located at 2160 Linden Drive SE, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. At the heart of the historic 26-acre estate stands a nineteenth-century mansion filled with the stories of three Cedar Rapids families.  Concerts, theater, programs, and tours enliven the site and celebrate the heritage of a community.  For more information, call (319) 362-7375 or visit www.brucemore.org.

Chicago, IL This January, Old Shoe will return to Davenport for their first performance in town since River Roots Live last summer. The band will also be touring in Colorado in January and host the second annual installment of Snow Shoe in February in their hometown of Chicago. The five-piece band will be touring in support of its all original 13-track release, Family, which showcases the band's diverse influences ranging from bluegrass to prog-rock to jazz, with it all settling into a familiar comfort zone akin to one's favorite "old shoe." The album reaches new heights from previous releases with a star-studded guest roster featuring musicians from the Henhouse Prowlers, the Low Down Brass Band, and Chicago's production of "The Jungle Book."

Family is not merely another notch in the belt for Old Shoe, but is more so a poignant culmination of the band's growth and progress since their last release in 2011. In just a little over two years, Old Shoe solidified their strong lineup with keyboardist/mandolinist/vocalist Joe Day and drummer Greg Fundis, rounded the Midwest festival circuit at high-profile events like Summer Camp and Wakarusa, opened for Grammy-award winning Bruce Hornsby, and even produced three consecutive installments of their own festival, Shoe Fest.

After a successful first year in Kankakee, IL, Snow Shoe will move to Chicago for 2014. The indoor festival-themed event will be held in The Volcano Room at The Bottom Lounge on Saturday, February 15th and will feature a potent line-up of local and regional musical talent, along with live artists and local vendors.

Upcoming Shows:
Dec 13: Miramar Theatre, Milwaukee, WI
Dec 19: Cubby Bear, Chicago, IL
Dec 31: NYE Hotel Ball, Peoria, IL
Jan 17: Redstone Room, Davenport, IA *
Jan 18: Donnie's Homespun, Springfield, IL
Jan 20: Avagadro's Number, Fort Collins, CO
Jan 21 & 22: Whistler's Cafe, Nederland, CO
Jan 23: Park House, Denver, CO
Jan 24: three20south, Breckenridge, CO ^
Jan 25: Agave, Avon, CO ^
Feb 15: Snow Shoe, Chicago, IL
Feb 21: The Mousetrap, Indianapolis, IN
Feb 22: Bell's Eccentric Cafe, Kalamazoo, MI

* with The Whistle Pigs
^ supporting Pickin' on Phish w/ Andy Thorn

This is a busy time of year for aspiring college students.

Those who met early application deadlines in November now face filling out the hefty Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form. And students who didn't apply early should be working hard on applications to meet regular deadlines, usually in January.

"There's a lot to get done and one of the most important things to remember is to know your deadlines and meet them," advises David Porter, a consultant to colleges and universities throughout North America and author of "The Porter Principles," a guide to college success through social engineering, (www.porterkhouwconsulting.com).

As students and their families visit college campuses, Porter says they should pay attention to the classroom outside of the classroom and the details of campus life: What are the wholesome opportunities for socially rich student engagement and study on-campus?  What extra-curriculars are offered and how accessible are they? What does the college paper reveal about campus issues, concerns and opportunities?

One often overlooked feature is the structure of campus dining, Porter says.

"Many universities require freshmen to live on campus for the first year because administrators know that students who live and dine on campus have higher GPAs and higher graduation rates than those who don't.  A properly socially engineered dining/learning commons is central to the day-to-day lives of all students living on-campus and is crucial for face-to-face social networking and study with fellow students," he says.

"But these same universities often fail to realize that student dining is as much - even more -- a factor in developing a sense of community and predicting future success.  This is the centerpiece of 'the classroom outside of the classroom'."

He offers these suggestions for evaluating campus dining commons:

• Is there a centralized dining hall (or halls), or are food locations scattered? A dining commons is the living room of the campus, a place where students come together and pause long enough to meet, talk, make friends, see and be seen, relax, study and collaborate. "These are all vital not only to bonding but to learning how to socialize with fellow students from a wide variety of backgrounds in a neutral environment," Porter says. "That provides once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to develop and nurture valuable networking skills for their personal and future professional lives. If the meal plan encourages them to scatter across campus - or go off campus - to pick up fast foods eaten in isolation, vital opportunities are lost, he says.

• What are the hours of operation? Students live on a different clock than most of us.   For many students, 11 p.m. is the middle of the day. Is the dining/learning commons open, thus respecting and being conducive to their (not our) lifestyle? If so, does it offer more than microwave pizza and hot dogs? These are all vital not only to bonding but to learning how to socialize and collaborate with current and new friends in a wholesome, social, safe on-campus environment," Porter says. "If the place isn't open when they're hungry, they'll go elsewhere and miss that socialization opportunity."

• How far is the dining hall from dorms and the academic core of campus? "I once consulted with a university that was mystified about why two dining halls got lots of student traffic, while the third - the most beautiful -- was largely ignored," Porter says. "When I visited, I discovered the dining hall had been built on top of a rather steep hill on the far edge of campus. The location offered great views, but the climb was a bear!" Dining halls should be within easy reach of both dorms and classroom buildings in the academic core or students simply won't use them.

About David Porter

David Porter, FCSI, is chief executive officer and president of Porter Khouw Consulting, Inc., a foodservice master planning and design firm based in Crofton, Maryland. David has more than 40 years of hands-on food service operations and consulting experience and is a professional member of the Foodservice Consultants Society International. Porter Khouw Consulting has worked with more than 350 clients to conduct market research and develop strategic plans, master plans and designs for the college and university market. Porter is a graduate of the prestigious hospitality program at Michigan State University and has been recognized repeatedly as a leader in his field.