It ended up being the highlight of our holiday festivities, so we called up Jason, an SFC with the Oregon National Guard, again this year, and asked if he knew of a military family who could use a little help this year. He was happy to oblige.
If you’d like to celebrate the season of giving by offering a helping hand to a military family in need, here are a few ways to get involved:
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- Next time you’re at the Dollar Tree, pick up a gift for a military child and drop it off in Operation Homefront’s collection box. Last year, Operation Homefront’s Toy Drive collected 9 million toys nationwide for military kids. You can also set up a collection box at your own church or community center, collect presents at your office holiday party, or volunteer to drop off donations to local families. Find out more on Operation Homefront’s website.
- Make a donation to Operation Holiday Joy. The Armed Services YMCA (ASYMCA) uses 100% of the proceeds to buy food and toys for junior enlisted families in need. Last year donations bought 320,000 toys and 25,000 baskets of food.
- If you’d like to adopt a family this year, visit https://www.facebook.com/thankmilitaryfamilies/, and fill out a sponsorship form. You’ll receive a family’s wish list, and you can send them items from the list or gift cards.
- Support Trees for Troops. Their annual tree collection weekend was Dec 6-8 this year, but you can still help a military family receive a Christmas tree by making a donation or becoming a sponsor.
- We missed the deadline for Holiday Mail for Heroes this year, but bookmark their site, and next year you and your family can make homemade cards for veterans, military families, and troops who are deployed overseas. Simply mail your cards to the Red Cross between October and early December, and they’ll take care of the rest.
- You can also contact your local USO to see if you can help with holiday boxes or other local events they’re hosting this year.
We hope you and yours have a very happy holiday season this year!