As the holidays come roaring now is a great time to lend a hand to a military family "left behind" while their loved one is deployed overseas.
If you live near a military family with a loved one deployed this holiday season stop by and volunteer to help them out for a few minutes or a few hours. You can put up their outside holiday lights or help get the Christmas tree in that pesky stand. Volunteer to stand in line at the post office or UPS store for them. Have a video camera? Help the family make a holiday video to post for mom or dad to see.
It is the little things that we do during the holiday season that can have the biggest impact. Lending a helping hand is a precious gift that will be appreciated by not only the family left behind but by their loved one far away.
Share of yourself this holiday season and feel the joy!
Great idea! I donated to the USO but are you aware of an organization that helps you locate a family to help?
This is a great idea!! If you're looking for a military family follow the yellow ribbon or look for a flag in the window with a star in the middle. Military homes typically hang a flag in the window, each star signifies the number of family members deployed. I was a member of blue star mom's, a group of Mom's with children deployed. My son is home now, thankfully, but many are still away. Last Christmas was the first Christmas ever that my family wasn't together, taking pictures Christmas morning and posting them on myspace so Ryan could see them was the high point of the day. This year he'll be home, he's leaving Ft. Bragg Saturday to come home for the holidays.
Reaching out beyond our own family and social circles this time of year can really have a positive impact on another family. Many often think of the less fortunate, not military families...great idea!
Diane and Bob-Since I have numerous military clients, a few of them deployed this year, I have a local connection to who might need a hand. June has a great idea to look out for the flags and yellow ribbons.
We have a couple of groups here where people volunteer to help on-shore families that have part of the family deployed off shore. They're great groups of people.
Best wishes for health, happiness, peace, and prosperity in 2009.
Jim-great idea to have a group together to help out. In my neighborhood it is just a few of us who are helping our neighbors who have deployed.