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The California-based Christian organization CityServe is hosting a “Day of Gratitude” in Las Vegas on June 8, honoring America’s veterans and their families with a day of music, fun and charity.
“We’re calling it the ‘Day of Gratitude,’” CityServe co-founder and CEO Dave Donaldson told Fox News Digital in a video interview.
The timing of the event, Donaldson said, is connected to the 80th anniversary of the D-Day invasion. June 6 this year marks eight decades since Allied forces landed on the beaches of Normandy in World War II, the largest amphibious invasion in military history.
Based in Bakersfield, CityServe “works with churches in America and around the globe, to help them fulfill their mission, to provide hope and help to needy families,” said Donaldson.
The June 8 event will be held in Las Vegas at Allegiant Stadium, home of the Las Vegas Raiders.
“We’re going to have an incredible program,” Donaldson said.
It will feature musicians Walker Hayes and Danny Gokey, award-winning magician Garry Carson, and a “huge kid’s zone on the field,” he said.
Players from the Las Vegas Raiders will also be present, he said.
“We’ve got four generals, 40 stations of service, and we’re going to donate over $3 million worth of what we’re calling ‘gratitude gifts,’” said Donaldson.
The “gratitude gifts” include toys, shoes and necessities such as diapers and wipes — something Donaldson said is an often-overlooked need for many military families.
CityServe is partnering with the diaper company EveryLife, which will be providing diapers and wipes to those in need. EveryLife’s “buy for a cause” program will be supporting military families, said Donaldson.
“Too many of these [military] families live under the poverty line,” said Donaldson. “And they’ve told us one of the greatest needs they have is for diapers and wipes.”
At the “Day of Gratitude,” “hundreds of pallets” of goods will be distributed to the 15,000 registered attendees, he said.
“We feel that this is one of the greatest opportunities in our lifetime to show our gratitude,” said Donaldson.
The event, he said, has already reached its maximum number of registrants — something Donaldson said “only underscores the need for an event like this.”
He said, “It’s a heartbreak” — noting that nearly two dozen veterans die by suicide each day and that a quarter of active-duty military experience food insecurity.
“And so we’re going to honor, but we’re also going to serve,” he said.
“We want to provide hope, but also help — tangible help — to these heroes. And we want their kids and their grandkids to know how grateful we are as we honor their parents and grandparents.”
Many veterans, he noted, “feel forgotten.”
“They feel like relics. And we want to make sure that the thousands that will be in attendance and the potentially millions online will know how grateful we are as a nation,” he said.
After the inaugural “Day of Gratitude” on June 8, Donaldson said he hopes to bring the event to other sports venues around the country.
“I think this is an opportunity for us to wrap our arms around them and to tell [our veterans] they’re not alone,” said Donaldson.
“We honor them. We’re going to serve them. But they’re not alone. We’re with them and with their families.”
The “Day of Gratitude” represents “a unique collaboration of over 20 veteran organizations and local churches committed to strengthening their communities,” notes the group on its website.
“Help us express our heartfelt thanks for the sacrifices these brave heroes and their families have made to defend our freedoms, and show them how much they are respected, appreciated and loved.”
