Youngster helped make holidays special overseas

United General Title Insurance would like to thank those who contributed to its holiday drive to support Operation Gratitude, an organization that sends care packages overseas to our troops.

Generous donations made by our customers helped Operation Gratitude reach its goal of sending a record-breaking 50,000 packages this holiday season and reach the 200,000 mark.

I would especially like to thank Keaton Cousins, a third-grader at Park Oaks Elementary in Thousand Oaks, who opened his heart and took action and led the effort, along with his teacher, Mrs. Uretsky, in his school's letter drive, which produced more than 100 letters for the troops. Operation Gratitude says letters are the things that the troops value the most in packages from home.

Keaton, one very extraordinary 8-year-old boy, shows us that even a child can bring a smile to the face of others and make a difference.

We would also like to thank all the people at Community West Bank, Tamara Keith of Moneyline, Shannon at First Rate Financial and Kathy Cousins of Hendricks Financing, all located in Westlake Village.

With the support of these people, along with Robert Marquez from the United General Oxnard office and Deborah Swain from our Camarillo office, who also gave generously and participated in collecting items from others as well, our drive was a success.

We thank you all again and wish you a very happy New Year. Elyssa Berger Oak Park