EAST HARWICH – The 25,000th care package organized and shipped by Cape Cod Cares for the Troops was sent out Saturday, on its way to service men and women stationed overseas.
The nonprofit organization had its start 14 years ago, when then-twelve-year-old Dylan DeSilva started sending troops care packages around the holidays.
But when requests for more packages began flooding in, DeSilva and his mother Michelle realized that they had to bring their efforts to a new level of involvement.
Over the years, the organization started branching out to help wounded warriors, gold star families and others affected by international conflict.
Michelle DeSilva said that the community really pulled through when requests became so large that they needed donations of time and money to fulfill them.
“A couple times, we thought ‘ok, maybe we should stop,’” she said. “But we really can’t when we look at all the things we have been able to accomplish, there’s such a need out there but our hope was [the troops] would all be home at some point so we wouldn’t have to keep going.”
Both the founder and his mother thanked the community for long-standing support in the efforts, saying it would not be possible without them.
Looking forward, the DeSilvas declined to give a specific number for the next milestone, offering, simply, to continue the work until “they all come home.”
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