Back in 2004, I posted an entry about various ways to send some holiday cheer to our troops. One of my friends who been serving in Iraq let me know in February that he’d just received our Christmas package. I didn’t realize at the time just how very long it took for packages to negotiate their way through the bureaucratic haze surrounding our best intentions, and so I resolved to begin posting this information early enough in the season to actually do some good for all concerned.

Regardless of your views on the war, those who’ve committed their lives to serve our country deserve the comfort of knowing that we at home remember and cherish them. Show your support with messages sent via “Operation Dear Abby”, a program that’s been around as long as I’ve been alive, making it a true classic.

Want to send more than a message? There are so many ways you’ll be hard-pressed to pick just one. But that’s kind of the point, isn’t it?

- Help a soldier send holiday cards home. Due to religious restrictions, our troops stationed in Islamic countries are unable to purchase holiday cards for their families. You can help do it for them, though! Mail unsigned, unsealed holiday cards for soliders’ use to: Have A Heart/Adopt A Soldier Org., 143 Denio Road, Malone, NY 12953. Card donations must arrive by November 25 for soldiers to mail them back home on time.

- Care packages to any soldier. Send a care package to service members listed at Any Soldier, Inc.’s list or through Give2TheTroops’s list. You can also support organizations that put together and ship care packages directly, like Operation Military Pride* [Please see note below] and Operation Gratitude.

- Adopt one or a whole platoon. You can adopt one soldier through Operation Home Front Hugs or adopt an entire platoon.

- Help military members reach out and touch someone. Donate your old cell phone through cell phones for soldiers or send pre-paid long-distance calling cards through the Military Exchange to troops stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan. (Authorized Exchange shoppers click here; everyone else, click here.)

- Help them help themselves. A Military Exchange gift certificate is a great way to help soldiers defray personal expenses. (You don’t have to be authorized to shop at the Exchange to buy a gift certificate.)

- Put some leisure into their ‘leisure time’. Donate books for soldiers, or send them letters from home to savor. No time to write? Support the United Service Organization (USO), which not only provides entertainment for deployed troops, but also family assistance, orientation briefings, and those wonderful airport service centers. I can tell you from personal experience, those airport centers make a world of difference for traveling military members and their families.

- Be there when they need it most. How often do we read or hear about a soldier unable to make it home for the birth of his child? Did you know that most times such absences come down to a lack of money, and not time? Your donation of frequent flier miles through Operation Hero Miles can change all of that. It can also help bring family members to the bedside of a wounded soldier. (Want to help those already in hospital? Your donation to the Wounded Soldier can provide First Response backpacks containing personal necessities to wounded soldiers and their family members to provide the necessities so difficult to find in the hospital.

- Support those who support them. Ask any soldier and she or he will tell you they couldn’t do their job if it weren’t for their family’s support. As the wife of a retired military member, I know first-hand that families are pressed into duty in their own ways, too. Support Operation Military Kids with a donation, or find the Hero Pack initiative in your state to give miltiary kids gifts that help them keep in touch with Mom or Dad overseas. Want something that last longer? Help a military spouse by giving the gift that lasts a lifetime: education! Donate to the American Military Spouse Education Foundation and fund undergraduate studies for a military spouse.

- Even more ways to help. If you love animals, consider acting as a foster parent for military pets and to ensure that a soldier’s best friend is waiting when he or she comes home. Or, if you have sewing skills, why not use your talents to contribute a Blanket of Hope? Those who knit or crochet can send soldiers’ babies gifts through Operation Top Knot.

If you know of a way to send military members some holiday cheer, please leave it in the comments or drop me an email so I can include it on the list. I’ll update this again next year if I have to… but, to be honest, what I want for Christmas really is peace on Earth. If I get my wish, then next year there will be no need to repost this again.

* NOTE: Due to litigation in Illinois concerning the financial accountability of Operation Military Pride, Electric Venom no longer recommends donations to this group.

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!