Sweet: Today Is National Donut Day

There's , and then there's National Donut Day.

Fasnacht Day is a Pennsylvania Dutch tradition around Lent, when special donuts are made on Shrove Tuesday; it was in February this year.

Donut Day was originally a fundraiser for the Salvation Army on the first Friday in June for the last 74 years. Any donut will do.

These especially sweet days have two things in common. The first, is alternate spellings. Is it Fasnacht, Fastnacht or Faschnacht? Is it donut, or doughnut?

In any case, the more obvious commonality is that it's a time to eat the donuts.

Donut shops across the nation — including the Lehigh Valley — will hand out free donuts to customers.

Dunkin' Donuts is on board with the holiday. For a free donut, you'll need to purchase a beverage (hot or cold), according to their "Behind the Beans" blog. You might want to do this in the morning. They say that they'll hand out one free donut of your choice "while supplies last."

There's a Dunkin' Donuts on

But you can also buy very yummy donuts at and . And don't forget . 

And if you're willing to cross the line into another Patch, the and are not far away.

The national day itself, always celebrated on the first Friday of June each year, was established in 1938 by the Chicago Salvation Army to honor women who served donuts to soldiers during World War I.

The Salvation Army this year is teaming up with baking company Entenmann's to help celebrate National Donut Day; Entenmann's will donate proceeds from sales and offer customers a chance to win free donuts for a year, by entering a contest on its Facebook page. Entenmann's donuts can be found at area grocery stores.

Follow more National Donut Day doings on Twitter at: #DoughnutDay or #DonutDay. You can also visit donutdayusa.com.