Although you may have known that today is National Donut Day, you may not know that the national holiday honoring our sugared, doughy morning pals has a history.

Instead of being what you may think – a “holiday” started by businesses in order to promote a product – National Donut Day has been around since 1938. It actually began as program started by the Salvation Army. During World War I, Salvation Army volunteers gave out donuts to soldiers on the front lines. Slightly patriotic, mostly indulgent, National Donut Day is always celebrated the first Friday in June.

Donut chains around the country are celebrating this glorious day with promotions. Dunking Donuts is offering a free donut with any beverage purchase. Krispy Kreme is giving out one free donut with no purchase necessary today.

Just a few minutes ago, Dunkin Donuts began a Twitter contest to give away gift cards in honor of National Donut Day:

Dunkin Donuts has a history of engagement with social media. They recently integrated their website with Facebook and Twitter to become more focused on social media. And last month, they also held Twitter contests on National Apple Pie Day. Winners received gift cards.

Bonus Tweet: Twitter is a wonderful place for topic mashups. Juxtaposition is one if its strong suits. Linking National Donut Day with the death of Jack Kevorkian is something that could only happen in the Twitterverse.