Thanks to the incredible support of communities throughout Maryland, Northern Virginia and the Washington, D.C. region, the USO of Metropolitan Washington served more than 3,330 local troops and their families this holiday season. (Click on links to see photos).
At USO-Metro, we recognize that the challenges of military life don't end when an overseas deployment does. For this reason, USO-Metro is committed to helping our military members and their loved ones throughout their service - making every moment count - whether they are deployed or returning home. All of us at USO-Metro appreciate special holiday moments and we make every effort to create these moments for our local troops and their families.
The 6th annual Turkeys for Troops program warmed the hearts and homes of local active-duty junior-enlisted (E-5 and below) military families with holiday food baskets. Each basket included canned goods, stuffing, pie makings, corn bread mix and a gift card for a fresh turkey or ham. USO-Metro worked directly with military leaders to identify families in the region that needed just a little bit of help to get them through the holiday season. Countless numbers of Americans from the Washington-Baltimore region generously donated through WUSA*9's Turkeys for Troops Telethon on Veteran's Day. In addition, several local businesses including Dell, Dyncorp International, Gannett Foundation and Turning Point provided their support allowing USO-Metro to distribute more than 1,200 baskets to local junior-enlisted military families.
Military children are a primary focus at USO-Metro because we understand that military kids serve too! USO-Metro recognizes that the transient military lifestyle means that military children experience unique stressors related to frequent moves and constantly saying goodbye to love ones. And because we know the holiday season can put the most emotional and financial strain on our military families, we've created several programs that lift their spirits during December.
On December 11, through USO-Metro's Project USO Elf, more than 1,400 junior-enlisted military parents in the Washington-Baltimore region received red bags filled to the brim with holiday gifts. Through the unique holiday program, military kids received age-appropriate gifts from the wish lists they personally wrote to Santa Claus. Individual donors and hundreds of employees from several local companies, including Boeing, TASC, NJVC, BMC Software, Leidos, Host Hotels and Alvarez & Marsal served as "elves" and personally shopped for each gift. While sipping on hot coca and munching on brownies and cookies, military parents picked up their children's gifts from the American people at "North Pole satellite locations" at Fort Belvoir and Fort Meade thanks to event sponsors ATK, DynCorp, EMC, and VMware.
Other festive holiday programs provided to local military families included BAE's Trees for Our Heroes and Healthnet's Celebration of Children. BAE Systems provided 150 local military families with trees, stands, and decorations. Families had the opportunity to cut down a live tree and receive a bag of ornaments, while enjoying complimentary refreshments, crafts, and other festive activities. Healthnet staged a "winter wonderland" at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall and hosted more than 150 children who enjoyed breakfast with Santa and Mrs. Claus, games, face painting and karaoke. Each child went home with handmade ornaments and gift cards.
And for those military members living in the Washington-Baltimore region who have to work over the holiday, USO-Metro's Holiday Hotel program will bring more than 100 families together. Through its partnership with 20 area hotels, three complimentary nights will be donated to family members traveling from afar to be with their military loved ones living in this region.
And through USO-Metro's Cookie Run holiday program, 3,000 cookies will be delivered by dozens of our dedicated and loyal USO volunteers to service members who are on duty on Christmas day!
All of us at USO-Metro want to thank all of those who helped us to create moments of joy, happiness and gratitude for military members and their families this holiday season.
We wish the Happy Holiday and we're looking forward to sharing the New Year with you!
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