The sweetest holiday of all is almost here! National Donut Day is coming on Friday, June 3rd and Entenmann’s wants to celebrate with YOU! No one knows donuts better than the creators of the iconic Rich Frosted, after all. Speaking of that crisp, delicious chocolate donut, it’s been made over just in time for the big day! Entenmann’s rolled out their NEW Entenmann’s Rich Frosted Party Sprinkled Donut, and boy is it GOOD! 

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Celebrate National Donut Day with a Little History Lesson & a Big Sweepstakes

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For the 6th year in a row, Entenmann’s is partnering with The Salvation Army to make this holiday even sweeter. As part of the festivities, Entenmann’s is hosting an awesome Facebook sweepstakes where you can “Win Free Donuts for a Year!” There will be TEN Grand Prize winners. 100 people will also win National Donut Day Party Pack Prizes filled with everything you need to throw your own National Donut Day Party!

It gets even sweeter. Every time a consumer (fan or not) that enters the Sweeps, Entenmann’s will donate $1 to The Salvation Army, up to $35,000. Why The Salvation Army? Because they’re actually the reason behind the holiday. Did you know that National Donut Day arose out of the Doughnut Day event started by The Salvation Army in 1938? The created it to honor the “Lassies,” women (and men) who who served doughnuts to soldiers during World War I.

Now you’re thinking “why doughnuts?” right? I was. So I looked into it more. During the war, The Salvation Army wanted to do something to help the men overseas. After a fact-finding mission, they determined that they could help by setting up “huts” that provided basic comforts of home: baked goods, writing supplies, clothes-mending services. Basically, the things the boys and men would turn to wives and mothers for. Remember, these were different times. Men were more dependent on women for basic care needs.

The “baked goods” part of the equation was more difficult than they thought it would be. You can’t really bake cakes and muffins in the middle of a war-zone and it’s not exactly easy to import them. So two women- Margaret Sheldon and  Helen Purviance- decided to try doughnuts instead (apparently along with some pies). The doughnuts were an instant hit, and the women who served them became known as Doughnut Dollies. Pretty cool, right?