Operation Homefront… Click on this highlighted link to learn more how to help… Quote from this website…
“A national nonprofit, Operation Homefront leads more than 2,500 volunteers with nationwide presence who provide emergency and other financial assistance to the families of service members and wounded warriors. Operation Homefront has provided assistance to thousands of military families since its inception in 2002. Recognized for superior performance by leading independent charity watchdog groups, nationally, 93 percent of total donations to Operation Homefront go directly to programs that provide support to our military families.”
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It was challenging growing up during mid 1940’s and 1950’s as a US Navy military child. My father was a Chief Boatswains Mate (BMC) training boots at both the US Naval Training Centers, in San Diego and Great Lakes. I remember the worst of it while we lived in Waukegan, Ill. Like many veterans of hard combat from WWII and Korean War, my father was challenged in making enough money for our family to survive. Dad also struggled with his own demons connected with experiencing so much death and destruction as a wartime veteran. We were a family torn apart by war and lived under toxic circumstances at home. It was scary so much of the time that I refer to this period in my young life as “the too terrible to remember 1950’s.”
Veterans of 21st Century wars and military families still have the same kind of challenges in post deployment life as we did following 20th Century wars, including WWII, Korean War, Vietnam, and the Gulf War. It is often tough for a military family to make ends meet. It is even harder for military spouses and children to learn how to cope with the caregiving duties of a father or mother who come home injured with physical and mental wounds that require a lifetime of treatment and tender loving care. It can be a lonely place in life for a military family, especially around the holiday season. The children can suffer the most from feeling scared and isolated in communities everywhere…
We can help by simply acknowledging and thanking veterans for their service, including the entire military family. Help get these families engaged in the community. Make sure they feel welcome, and give them an opportunity make a difference. You can also click on the Operation Homefront website and learn about specific needs of military families in your community and do more.
Please make an effort to reach out to military families during this holiday season, or for that matter anytime of the year. We need to care for our veterans in the same way they cared for us while deployed, fighting to protect the freedoms we enjoy as Americans. We have much to be thankful for, and owe so much to our veterans. Keep the children and families of warriors in your thoughts and prayers, and reach out and help a military family directly if there is an opportunity to do so…
All the best during this 2014 Holiday Season…
Steve Sparks, Author, Reconciliation: A Son’s Story and My Journey of Healing in Life After Trauma, Part 1… Click on the highlighted links for my author page…
Member, Oregon Coast Veterans Association Click highlighted text for Facebook page…
