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This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Walmart. All opinions are 100% mine.
I have friends online that have husbands and wives deployed over seas. All year long they keep the household going, doing the job of Mom and Dad. They pay bills, buy food, clean the house, attend school functions, run errands, take the kids to school, do maintenance to the home, fix things, and most of all, miss the person that is thousands of miles away. They have to answer the question “When is Daddy coming home?” or “When is Mommy coming home?” and say a quick prayer in their heart that they do come home. People really don’t understand how hard it is to have a spouse deployed, and I probably wouldn’t be as understanding if I didn’t see it first hand.
The holidays are especially hard for families of deployments. Mom or Dad is in charge of making sure the holiday is celebrated. Can you imagine how hard it is to put up lights, decorations and try to be jolly while inside you are dying a little bit because it is just a reminder of the fact that there is one person that wont be there? Or being a child that will wake up Christmas morning, ecstatic over what Santa brought only to be reminded that there is a parent missing? It has to be hard and keeping a smiling face through it all has to be torture. Because military families have to be strong, even if it is just for show.
I do a lot of donating to military families during the holiday. I send toys to organizations that send them out all over the US to kids that have a parent ( or in some cases, both parents) deployed. I also donate essentials for spouses and sometimes just a little something I found so Mom or Dad has a gift also. My Dad works on APG and it makes it really simple to do these donations but what about if you don’t live near a military base? How do you donate?
Walmart has partnered with Fisher House and Operation Homefront to support military families nationwide. Walmart’s “Holiday Salute to Military Families” initiative aims to honor and support our service members and veterans who keep our country safe, as well as the military families who act as our heroes at home. Research shows that nearly 50 percent of our nation’s active duty military members are parents, and many spouses and children remain at home while a service member is deployed. Despite the courage and strength upheld by military families year-round, separation can be financially and emotionally exhausting, especially during the holidays. The “Holiday Salute to Military Families” hopes to ease these burdens with $2 million in grants for toys, meals and lodging assistance to those military families with the greatest need of support this year. The donation will also help hundreds of active duty service members come home for the holidays to be reunited with their loved ones.
You can Join in our Holiday Salute to Military Families by being a part of Giving Tuesday, December 3rd. Giving Tuesday is a great way to get involved in helping others, especially our military families. It doesn’t have to be a lot, every little bit helps and I can assure you that the family receiving will be glad for the help. I honestly feel that the best gift you can give during the holiday season is the gift of giving back. Especially to the families of those that are fighting to keep our freedoms.
To all the military and military families, I salute you not only during this holiday season, but all year round. Thank you for your strength, your courage and mainly thank you for allowing me to sleep at night knowing someone out there is fighting for us to be safe. Happy Holidays!
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