This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Walmart. All opinions are 100% mine.
Today marks #GivingTuesday
Giving Tuesday is a daylong event aimed at helping charities raise money online. A way for your family, community, company or organization to come together and share a little generosity.
This year's "Holiday Salute to Military Families" campaign is asking all of us to give back to those who give to us every day to serve our country.
I think the majority of my readers know that my husband is in the United States Army and has served for the last 14, going on 15 years. There has been many times I have spent Christmas without him and although it was hard every single day he was gone, it was always especially hard around the holidays.
My most memorable holiday spent without him was back in 2006. He came home from Iraq at the very end of November and was home through mid December. Letting him go back right before Christmas sucked for the lack of a better word. Not long after he returned to Iraq we found out we were expecting. It was an emotional December to say the least. I was blessed though. My husband was a dog handler at the time and had his own access to Internet. We were lucky to get to talk daily.
If you have ever been without your loved one, whether you are military or not then you have a glimpse of how it feels to miss them so much. To help support these military families Operation Homefront plans to provide nearly 25,000 toys and more than 17,000 meals to military families nationwide.
Fisher House will help ease burdens facing those with loved ones hospitalized by providing 50,000 nights of lodging under their Sponsor A Family program. Walmart has pledged the largest single donation of $500,000 to fund this program, which is amazing!! Fisher House is a organization that helps provide homes away from homes for families with service members who have illnesses or been injured.
I love this program that Fisher House offers and that Walmart has funded. As some of you may or may not know, my husband lost his father (a veteran himself) this past September. We know first hand how emotionally exhausting and financially draining it can be to travel back and forth to be there for your loved one. Because of the military we live over 10 hours away from our family. On a normal basis we would only go home a couple times of year but because of my Father-in-law falling sick and then eventually passing we spent several trips back and forth this past year. Having Fisher House provide lodging for these families to spend the holidays with their sick loved one is fantastic.
In the spirit of giving today?
Click to make a donation to Fisher House and the Sponsor A Family Program.
Click to make a donation to Operation Homefront.
From someone who lives the military life every single day I can say that every donation is truly appreciated, even if you only have a dollar to give.
I would love if you could all share this blog post with your family and friends and pass the word along. :)