A Donut and a Helmet

Few foods have a story as rich—and as surprising—as the humble donut. At first glance, it might appear to be a sweet, fried ring of sugar and flour, more likely to appear at office meetings than in history books. But behind that sugary glaze lies a legacy born in the trenches of war.

During World War I, The Salvation Army didn’t just send supplies, they sent comfort. Enter the “Donut Lassies,” courageous women who served soldiers on the front lines with nothing more than a few basic ingredients and a whole lot of heart. With no proper kitchen in sight, they reached for the only tool they had: the helmets worn by the very men they came to serve.

One moment a soldier’s helmet deflected shrapnel, the next, it was sizzling with hot oil, transforming bits of dough into golden rings of hope. The donuts reminded weary, mud-caked soldiers of the kitchens they longed to return to, of mothers and wives praying for their safety, of Saturday mornings and sunlit porches and everything war had taken from them. Each bite was a quiet miracle, a wordless message from home: you are not forgotten.

The donuts didn’t cure wounds. They didn’t change the outcome of the war. But these small morsels of hope saved something sacred, something fragile. They saved the will to keep going. These donuts weren’t about indulgence, they were about humanity.

And while most health experts would order us to avoid donuts, that doesn’t mean there isn’t value to be gleaned from remembering their purpose. The indisputable truth is that a donut brings comfort, always has and always will. It doesn’t matter whether you are in a trench in the middle of a battlefield or just sitting at your desk, trying to get through the day.

That’s why National Donut Day still matters. Not just for taste, but for the testimony. It invites us to remember a time when a donut meant more than calories—when it meant compassion, when it meant sacrifice. It meant all the things that were good about who we are as human beings.

So, this Donut Day, June 6, let’s eat with intention. Let’s thank God for the Donut Lassies who fried hope in helmets and handed it out with love. We can serve as they did. Give. Volunteer. Love. Use whatever we have at hand to give hope.