A Muncie video store is trying to gather donations for soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.
By donating $2, Family Video customers can help send movies to these soldiers as part of "Operation Entertain the Troops."
People can also bring in some of their own movies to any Family Video location to donate. The chain's goal is to have one million movies total by the end of the month to send to soldiers, according to a press release.
On Saturday, Muncie's Family Video held a special all-day event to promote the monthlong challenge. The store had a dice game so those who donated could play to win prizes like certificates and coupons.
Robert Young, manager of Muncie's branch, said about 700 to 800 people attended the event this weekend, and the store received about 250 to 300 donations.
"It was a fun day," Young said. "Families came out [and] had free food. [Kids] were able to color cards to send to the troops."
Young said his store tries to hold a function for the community as often as possible.
"We have these things called grassroots, which is kind of like a community event that our stores do every so often ... where we pretty much give back to the community," Young said. "I try to do these events every other month or so."
"Operation Entertain the Troops" is the result of the success of individual Family Video stores across the country that have run similar events, Young said. This month is the first time that the entire chain of more than 750 stores is participating.
"Basically every store is in charge of what they want to do for a community event," Young said. "Some stores decided to do ‘Operation Entertain the Troops.' It just started catching on."
Senior hospitality and food management major Paige Allen has been working for Family Video for three years but has only been working at the Muncie store for six months. She explained how the operation has been working in the store.
"Every time we check out a customer, we say, ‘Hey, for just an extra two dollars you can send a movie to the troops in Iraq or Afghanistan,'" Allen said. "If they decide to donate, we give them a little card. They put their name and like a little message to the troops because we're actually going to send those cards to the troops [along] with our movies."
Young explained that at the end of the month, the store will team up with other Family Videos in the district and local military operations to send the movies to the troops.
Even though Saturday's event is over, anyone can still donate to the store through the end of the month.
For the company to reach its goal, each of the about 750 stores participating across the country will have to collect more than 1,300 donations.
"Our store's been pretty successful so far," Young said. "We're doing really, really well."
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