One San Pedro family is sending packages overseas, and in return it's brought them a wall of gratitude.

Jacqueline Van Der Ley’s daughter is in the U.S. Air Force on deployment in Afghanistan. It’ll be months before she sees her daughter again. That’s why Van Der Ley found a way to send reminders of home through San Pedro’s Packages For Patriots.

“She loves the boxes. She does. The candy, the granola bars. She loves the granola bars,” Van Der Ley said.

Van Der Ley’s daughter is among the military members who have received boxes from San Pedro’s Packages For Patriots.

Mike Walker and his wife Shirley have taken on this mission for over 10 years. It all started with sending a care package to a family friend serving overseas. They had no idea how much gratitude they’d receive in return.

“It’s amazing how the littlest things can brighten their day and let them know that someone other than their mom, somebody other than their sister, their dad, their brother, whatever, cares,” Walker explained.

Walker has flags, plaques and thank you cards all from different branches and troops in the military. Each piece comes with a message for Walker expressing how grateful the troops are to be on the receiving end of his care packages.

Walker and his wife’s passion project has sent over 15 thousand boxes filled with junk food overseas.

He said these are the small luxuries they don’t easily come across when on deployment. But he can’t fill boxes all day long. He has a business to run.

Walker owns San Pedro Automotive, a Toyota repair shop. If he couldn’t fill boxes all day, he wanted to at least show his customers the people they’ve comforted.

He created a wall in his shop, filled with hundreds of photos of people who have received care packages through his nonprofit and shares their stories.

“That’s all I want. Just give me a picture for my wall. I want to put it up. I want people to know they’re contributing and who they are contributing to,” Walker said.

Soon, Van Der Ley’s daughter will be back from deployment and her photo will serve as a reminder of her service on Walker’s wall.