Each year, on the first Friday in June, people participate in National Donut Day, honoring the Salvation Army Lassies, the women who served doughnuts to soldiers during WWI. These women braved bullets while making and serving thousands of donuts a day for U.S. troops, often using empty wine bottles as rolling pins and tin cans as cutters. In addition to frying donuts, the women prayed with the soldiers, helped them write letters, mended their clothes, and more. These women are often credited with popularizing the donut in the United States when the troops (nicknamed “doughboys”) returned home from war.
Today, the donut symbolizes the comfort that The Salvation Army provides to those in need. The Salvation Army continues to serve donuts, hot meals, and hydration in times of disaster and other hardships.
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