A big thank you will go out Monday night to area residents and businesses that participated in "Operation Shaving Cream."

Riverside Military Academy, The Times and Willis Investment Counsel are sponsoring "An Evening of Thanks and Remembrance: How a Community Makes a Difference" at 6:30 p.m. at the school at 2001 Riverside Drive.

The program, open to the public at no charge, also will serve as a reminder of the sacrifices of men and women in the armed forces who have served and are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Operation Shaving Cream" was a local initiative to send 10,000 cans of shaving cream to Marines in the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, who used them to mark a path through suspected sites of roadside bombs in Afghanistan.

"It was an unbelievable outpouring of support ... and it did make a difference in the war effort," said Tony Herdener, who helped organize the effort and whose son, 1st Lt. Paul Herdener, is one of the Marines.

"I'm hopeful some young men and women who may be about to deploy can attend so we can thank the ones who continue to serve."

Paul Herdener, 26, a 2004 North Hall High School graduate and a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, was deployed from March 1 to Oct. 1, when he returned to Camp Pendleton, Calif.

He will be in town Friday and stay for about a week before he returns to Camp Pendleton, he said in an interview earlier this month.

The shaving cream campaign began with an email he sent his parents about how effective the cream was in saving Marines' lives. The cream is typically sprayed after someone carrying a minesweeper spots a possible bomb site.

The Taliban has stepped up using roadside bombs, often referred to as IEDs, or improvised explosive devices, as a weapon in its war against the U.S. and its allies, a tactic graphically described in the 2009 movie, "The Hurt Locker."

Paul Herdener said he was certainly thankful for the shaving cream cans.

"It was great to see Gainesville get involved and study up, basically, on what was going on (in the war)," he said.

Tony Herdener spread the word about the Marines' need at Rotary Club of Gainesville and the drive spread to other organizations, becoming a full-blown campaign.

Monday night's program will feature remarks from Paul Herdener, who also will take part in a panel discussion featuring other Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.

The other panelists are Lt. Col. Kevin Jarrard, Riverside's commandant; retired Lt. Col. Anthony E. Fritchle, executive assistant to the president and director for planning at Riverside; and Maj. David J. Nelson, executive officer, the Army's 5th Ranger Training Battalion, Camp Merrill, Dahlonega.

The event will begin at 6:30 p.m. on Lanier Quad with the Riverside Corps of Cadets' evening pass in review and the lowering of the colors.

The rest of the program will take place in the theater of the Sandy Beaver Center. Afterward, a reception will take place in the theater's atrium.

Beyond Monday night, the shaving cream effort goes on.

"We have about 800 to 1,000 cases that we need to get over there," Tony Herdener said.

"We've been pursuing a couple different angles. ... I have a contact in the replacement unit who shared that (Marines) are using it with the same methodology that was established."