Gandhi’s owner Ramesh Kumar said about 50 percent of his regular customers are members of the Armed Forces.

Now he wants to do something special for those men and women.

Gandhi’s, located on Mickelberry Road in Silverdale, will host the first of many special nights dedicated to the military Friday, July 4. The Indian restaurant will donate 50 percent of all sales that day to purchase and ship care packages to troops serving overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“I don’t think there’s going to be any better day than the Fourth of July,” Kumar said. “I’m expecting a good response.”

Gandhi’s will serve up a lunch buffet from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. July 4 and a dinner buffet will be offered from 5 to 9 p.m. The lunch buffet costs $8.95 and dinner is $12.95. Gandhi’s also will donate 50 percent of the bar’s sales to the cause.

Kumar said he decided to host this fund-raiser because the military has “done a lot for us” and he wanted to give something back to them.

“Living in a military town, you always feel for them,” he said. “I always appreciate what they do for us.”

Kumar is talking to a friend who is currently sending care packages to troops about what to buy for the boxes and how to ship them. He will purchase the care package items and ship them to troops himself using the money raised at Gandhi’s on July 4.

“It’s not only them getting the care package, they feel like the people are with them,” Kumar said.

Kumar said he does not have a goal in mind, but has had a good response from customers so far who said they will eat at Gandhi’s July 4 to support the fund-raising effort.

“Everybody liked it, every person I talked to,” Kumar said.

He hosted another fund-raiser his first day in business on Oct. 21, 2001. Gandhi’s offered a free lunch buffet and accepted monetary donations to send to the victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Kumar said the restaurant raised $1,600 at that event and hopes the care packages fund-raiser goes well too.

“This has really meant a lot to me,” he said.

Kumar said he is not asking for additional donations, but if people would like to donate extra money to purchase and ship the care packages, they are welcome to do so.

“It’s all up to them,” Kumar said. “Another care package we can have for those guys would be good.”

Kumar said Gandhi’s will host one fund-raising day each month for the next six months to go toward purchasing and shipping care packages monthly. Dates for upcoming fund-raisers will be announced at a later date.