Holiday Support for Military Families

Posted by: Health.mil Staff

Countless organizations nationwide exist to support service members and their families. We’d like to take a moment today to thank and feature a handful of organizations that are proactively helping service members and their families. Most of them present opportunities to participate in their programs this holiday season:

The Armed Services YMCA celebrates and helps military families. From its Operation Kid Comfort campaign, which sends custom-made quilts to children of deployed service members, to its “My Military Hero” contest, the ASYMCA has spent the last decade serving and supporting military families during the holiday season.

The Yellow Ribbon Fund, which provides support to recuperating military members in the Washington, D.C., area, held its first-ever Annual Rockin' for the Troops Gala on Nov. 7. A few weeks later, the fund also hosted a hunting/fishing/golf outing for injured service members in Easton, Md.

Comfort for America’s Uniformed Services (Cause) USA supports injured service members during the holiday season. They hold weekly events to bring comfort to recuperating service members. If you would like to contribute time, items or video games for wounded warriors at military treatment facilities, please visit the Cause donation page.

The U.S. Army Wounded Warrior Transition Command Web site is dedicated to stories of injured, wounded and ill service members receiving the best care available, which not only helps them recuperate, but allows their families comfort knowing their military family member is well taken care of.

Following the holidays, the Disabled American Veterans organization will close the winter season with its National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic, held Mar. 28 – Apr. 2, 2010. The clinic promotes rehabilitation by instructing veterans with disabilities in adaptive alpine and Nordic skiing. It also provides veterans with an opportunity for self-development and challenge through sports and leisure activities.