Put the giving back in Thanksgiving by helping a soldier this holiday season.For soldiers that are deployed oversees during the holiday season it is a rough road to haul. They are far away from home while millions of Americans are enjoying great food, fun and festivities with family and friends while thousands of people are fighting a war for our international freedom |
Enjoying the holidays is tough enough for many people due to illness,or death of a loved one. For a soldier stationed overseas, it can be very lonely and depressing. What can you do to help soldiers at Thanksgiving? Here are five ways to help: Send cards from your family to a soldier. Pack a small box or large envelope with several cards bought or made by your family to brighten up the spirit of a soldier. You can gear the cards towards a male or a female. Ask how he or she is doing and ask where the soldier is based. Send several homemade cards and pictures of your family. Send a gift box to the soldiers. Many times soldiers run out of daily items that we take for granted such as tissues, sanitary pads, writing paper, pens etc. Send over a box filled with items for a soldier filled with items that can be used everyday. Locally, find out how many soldiers from your town are deployed in a foreign country and find out what they need. You can ask at your local Army or Navy recruiting office, or a neighbor that has a soldier deployed in another country. Start a drive for clothing, and food, for the soldiers to use and consume. Soldiers always need socks, t-shirts to wear under regulation clothing and to wear on days off. Send a fan to a soldier deployed in a hot climate foreign country. Bake several batches of cookies for a soldier, and send the cookies to her. Wrap them carefully so they don’t crumble in the shipping process. Bake chocolate chip cookies that last a little longer than cut out cookies, and are not so holiday oriented. Another way of helping a soldier at Thanksgiving is helping the family of a soldier stationed thousands of miles away from home. Many times when a soldier is sent to a foreign country, his or her family is left at home to fend for themselves. The main breadwinner may be gone. A wife and mother may be left to work full time and assume all the household and child rearing responsibilities. You can help by volunteering your time in your neighborhood. Ask at your local church or at work how you can get in touch with an Army, Navy or Marine family to help them out. You may even find such a family in need of help by calling your local newspaper. Ask the family what they need done. Cook a dinner for the soldier’s family, or baby-sit her children. A small church congregation can help by cleaning or cooking for a week around the soldier’s home. Helping soldiers during Thanksgiving is as simple as sending a box filled with holiday goodies to brighten a depressing day. Give a little this year, and your holidays will be filled with good cheer! |