You probably know The Mountain is a proud New Hampshire company. We’ve been in the Granite State for more than 30 years. You might also know that we like to support local causes – everything from Little League teams to animal shelters.

Today, we’d like to talk about a cause that started in New Hampshire and has since spread across the country – Operation Hat Trick. And since we’re rapidly approaching Veterans Day (much of the country has Friday, Nov. 10 off and Veterans Day is Saturday, Nov. 11), we thought it particularly apropos to talk about this great organization that works to support the recovery of wounded service members.

Operation Hat Trick started in 2008 after two Navy SEALS, Nate Hardy and Mike Koch, were killed in a firefight in Iraq with Al-Qaeda fighters. Nate Hardy lived in New Hampshire (his father, Stephen, was a professor at the University of New Hampshire). News of Nate’s death spurred Dot Sheehan, an athletic director at UNH, to start Operation Hat Trick. Initially, Operation Hat Trick started by donating hats to Veterans Administration Medical Centers to cover wounds, burns, swelling and bandages. It was a local non-profit to begin.

But by 2012, Operation Hat Trick was a national organization. Today, Operation Hat Trick’s brand and mission are now embraced by more than 330 colleges and universities in all 50 states, 165 high schools, 21 National Hockey League teams, 70 Minor League baseball teams, 15 NBA teams and more than 100 companies.

The Mountain is proud to be one of those companies that supports OHT. Our Hero Collection features more than 20 T-shirts and a portion of proceeds from the sale of those shirts is donated back to Operation Hat Trick.

As an aside, we’ll be donating a portion of the proceeds from every sale (that’s everything – not just our Hero Collection shirts) on our website to Operation Hat Trick starting Nov. 10 and lasting all weekend long to support our veterans.

We thank Operation Hat Trick for what they do for our injured soldiers, but most importantly, we thank every U.S. soldier and their families for the sacrifices they make in defending our freedoms and values.