Philanthropic Friday: Support Our Veterans

Ever have a dream that makes you stop in your tracks and wonder where it came from? I had one of those dreams last night.

I was in an auditorium waiting for something. I don’t know what or why, but the rest of the auditorium was filled with servicemen and service women all in their combat camos. Two women were sitting together near me and I quietly said “Thank you for serving our country.” It’s something I try to do in my waking life whenever I see someone in uniform. When I say ‘try’ it’s because I don’t always do it. I should stand proud and show my gratitude, but I’m almost always choking back tears when I say it. I have no idea why. I’ve tried to teach my kids to be thoughtful, thankful and show their appreciation as well. Every once in a while they will, but they are often too shy or embarrassed to walk up to a total stranger. The service members always smile, sometimes say “You’re welcome” or even “Thank you” back to us for acknowledging them. But in the dream, things were different. One woman said thank you and the other criticized me. She said I didn’t understand.

So what did I do? I woke up trying to make sense of why my subconscious would put together these random thoughts. What a lot of people don’t know is that I had considered enlisting when I was in high school, going so far as talking with a recruiter. My thought was to follow in my father’s footsteps and maybe even shoot for West Point. Advice from my parents was to attend a normal college and pursue a corporate career which is what I ended up doing. Maybe that’s why I long to tell people thank you for their service.

My dream reminded me that I can use my talents and my resources to highlight organizations that help our service people. So today, I’m featuring a few charitable organizations and things you can do to show your support.

1) Show your gratitude. If you see someone wearing military clothing whether at the store, the mall, school, a restaurant or wherever, take the 30 seconds out of your schedule to walk up to them and tell them thank you for their service. 30 seconds is far less than the 24/7 they have devoted.

2) Honor Flight. Every time I see a newscast about the latest honor flight, I’m reminded that I want to take the girls to one of the departure or welcoming ceremonies. Of course, there are many ways to support the Honor Flight program. Donate, sponsor or volunteer… or may just show up at the airport to let these veterans know how important they are.

3) Disabled American Veterans (DAV): Our first introduction to this program was through their local thrift store. If you have something to donate, then this is worth considering. The funds from the DAV thrift stores support veteran causes. As with Honor Flight, there are many ways to support the cause.

4) Flags/Flowers on Military Graves: Each year volunteers make their way to cemeteries across the country to lay flags, flowers and wreaths on military graves. Wreaths Across America is one example of a charity helping make this happen.

5) Support a charity: There are a multitude of charities needing support including programs like the Wounded Warrior Project, USO, Puppies Behind Bars, Freedom Service Dogs of America and Fisher House. Charity Navigator can help you find a program that matches your interests.

6) Wave the flag: There are local organizations that place flags in front of homes on each major federal holiday. You pay annually and volunteers from different organizations install the flags at dawn and remove them at dusk. Contact your local chamber of commerce or city welcoming organization to find out if this program is available in your area. If it isn’t, maybe you could set it up! At a minimum, you should purchase and fly the United States flag on your own.

7) Care packages, cards and other support. There are so many ways to support our troops, the ideas are endless. A number of organizations offer care package programs, school and church groups often organize drives and local branches of the National Guard often collect gifts for military families during the holidays.

Whether you support a cause financially, find ways to donate your time and talents, or verbally express your gratitude, it all matters.

What are your favorite ways to support the active military and veterans?

Tags: Philanthropic Friday

17 thoughts on “Philanthropic Friday: Support Our Veterans”

I honestly haven’t done much yet, but I love the idea of Wreaths Across America. I’ll be looking into that one.

These are all such great ideas to honor those who serve. I’m always sure to thank the people I know who are or have been in the military, but I’m not really one to go up to strangers and start a conversation. Donating to a charity is a perfect way to show gratitude to everyone whether you know them or not.

These are great ideas to thank and honor and our servicemen. I like the care package and gifts for military families ideas.

These are such great tips. I think it is so important to teach our kids to appreciate the sacrifice others make and I try to encourage it too!

I love the list. I’ve been working on introducing charity to my youngest. He’s the perfect age for loving it!

If you want to blend your love of Board Games with your desire to support military personnel, there’s always Games For Troops as well.

http://gamesfortroops.org/

I think it is important to teach our kids to be proud of this country. Patriotism should be instilled at a young age.

These are great ideas. Our servicemen and women do so much for our country, and they do it without the thought of accolades. That makes it even more important to recognized everything they do for us.

I think it is important to support both active military and veterans. There is an organization called The American Legion that supports both, and another called The Sons Of The American Legion that supports other family members.

What a cool dream to have. Mine are never that nice….just last night I dreamt of a lady monster trying to scare us with her made up face. …weird. Yes, let’s all raise some noise about the USA!!

Both of my grandfathers were veterans. I remember both of them and their service on Veteran’s Day and other patriotic holidays.

These are wonderful ideas on how to remember our Veterans. We always celebrate here on the patriotic holidays, but should be year around.

Thomas Jefferson once said “The tree of Liberty must occasionally be watered with the blood of Patriots and tyrants”. It is important to teach children that all the things they take for granted were given to them by a veteran who sacrificed their life in order for this generation to be free.

teaching kids when they are young, that as citizens of this great country, we have a responsibility to serve others, whether it be the troops or our neighbors, is part and parcel of our responsibility and duty is an awesome thing.

I organized a large board game donation to one of my friend’s stations in Afganistan. They loved having so many new games to play together on their down time.