Just another day in the life...

Helen hadn't thought about what saving on her bills might cost her until she reduced her coverage on the auto insurance and had an accident in the last winter snow. An accident which left her driver side door and hood jammed shut made it virtually impossible to get the car started when the battery went dead. Deployed on the ship until late summer, Helen's husband wasn't there to help. Getting the car towed to a repair shop and determining what could be done to get the car back on the road was easy since Helen had maintained their AAA benefits. But, where would the money come from to facilitate the repairs? Reducing the coverage meant the accident wasn't covered. Helen had already exhausted all her options for financial assistance. When the estimate to get the car safe and back on the road was under $500, Operation Homefront Hampton Roads was there to help. No rush though because Helen was facing knee surgery and had some time before she'd be back behind the wheel. But, the peace of that the car would be ready and waiting when she needed it was all she needed to know. Operation Homefront helps families like this who have a crisis and no where else to turn. Would you like to help families like Helen? Visit our website at www.operationhomefront.net/hamptonroads . You can help!

Help Out a Hampton Roads Navy Family

Are you looking for something to do in some of your spare time as the weather begins to break towards the spring? How about lending your expertise and time to assist a local Navy family here in Hampton Roads? The Smith family is rebuilding their home in the Hickory area of Chesapeake and will be needing volunteers to do many skilled and unskilled tasks. The family lost their home over a year ago to "toxic" mold. The time has come to rebuild and they need help! For more information on how you can assist one of our local military families, please go to www.smitheieio.com and learn how you can help. Also, if you are a contractor or have access to building supplies of any kind, please make contact with the family. Your time and efforts will be greatly appreciated.

To help this and other military families in need, visit www.operationhomefront.net/hamptonroads and register as a volunteer or service provider here in southern VA.

They’ve been together for 12 years and married for 7 of them. They promised each other to stick together through thick and thin – and right now is the really thin part.

Angelo was in the Guard and was just about to join the Army when his unit was activated. Candy had their second child, who is autistic, while he was overseas. He spent 3 days with his first child before going to boot camp. He spent a tour in Kuwait and then went to Iraq to fight in Operation Iraqi Freedom. That’s where everything changed and the “thin” began.

Angelo sustained severe injuries – his HumV overturned in a canal when it was attacked. He suffered a cracked skull (which resulted in brain surgery), several fractured vertebrae (which resulted in back surgery that left him paralyzed for 8 months), and an infection in his spinal cord – not to mention his PTSD. He was placed on medical hold.

For a while, he worked as a recruiter, fighting the medical discharge he was offered. You see, Angelo had always been a hard worker – always provided for his wife and children, but his injuries were such that he just couldn’t do it.

As of now, Angelo, Candy, Angelo, Jr., and Christopher are surviving on 70% disability. For a long time, he was receiving 40%. Then the Guard told him they had overpaid him by $18,000 and they needed it back – now.

They are appealing, but there’s another part to this story. Angelo and Candy are expecting their third (and last) child. Candy is due in March and they had bills galore, no car, no living room furniture and not a single thing for the new baby coming and no way to get it.

Candy’s Mother spent her savings to get them a car and they VA got them a sofa. The VA referred the family to Operation Homefront Hampton Roads. The first priority was to bring the Bencivenga family current with some of their outstanding bills and since that original referral, Operation Homefront Hampton Roads has been able to provide Angelo, Candy and the kids a gift card for groceries, and tons of items for the baby – crib, car seat, clothing, toys, furniture for the kids room and more. Each visit to drop off more items elicits excited cries from the kids and parents alike.

Things aren’t quite as “thin” as they were, but they are a long way from “thick”. Angelo is excited to be able to spend time with his newborn son when he arrives. Candy will go back to work as soon as possible.

When they were asked what the help Operation Homefront Hampton Roads has given them has meant, Angelo replied, “You saved us. You saved us worry. You saved us money we didn’t have. You saved us”.

YOU CAN HELP this and other military families like them. Please contact Operation Homefront Hampton Roads at hamptonroads@operationhomefront.net and let us know what you can do to help us help our military families.

What you can give~

Hae you ever thought about "what you can give"? Maybe you have thought "I don't have a lot of money so therefore I can't help a particular organization." But may be misinformed. Organizations like Operation Homefront Hampton Roads survive and support the needs of military families through the generosity of small donations from individuals and corporations who believe in the mission.

Your gift can be as small as a $5 donation by texting PATRIOT for 90999 on your cell phone. It could be the donation of a $25 Food Lion or WalMart gift card. Maybe you have some furnishings or household appliances which still have life and which a family in need might appreciate. Of course, you can also give "The Gift of Comedy". Operation Homefront Hampton Roads is sponsoring "Backing Up The Front" with an evening of comedy on Thursday, February 11th. at Cozzy's Comedy Club in Newport News. For $10 you can either attend the event in support of our military families in need or you can buy a ticket and either give it to a family member/friend or offer it to a military member you know.

What you do can be small but meaningful...It's not what you give but the fact that you give at all.
For more information on how you can help our military families in crisis, please contact Anita Fletcher at 757-806-6150 or by emailing anita.fletcher@operationhomefront.net

Haiti Here We Come

I don't know that anyone thinks about the impact natural disasters have on our military families, particularly families that have just experienced a long deployment of their service member.
When disaster strikes, it's not just the National Guard and the Reserves who respond, many times it's the active duty service members who are called upon to respond immediately and without complaint.

Years ago my husband deployed to FL from Ft. Bragg along with the 82nd ABN Division. He responded to the recovery efforts after Hurricane Andrew. The devastation he saw was mind boggling. He was able to stand in various places on the hurricane ravaged site of what had been Homestead AFB and see not a structure left standing. He went where duty called and as a family we remained behind. The day after he left, my daughters and I were caught in a flash flood. The Aerostar van hit a sheet of oncoming water, the car went into a 180 degree spin, struck the curb and rolled once before it came to a stop. I was lucky...although the car was not driveable, we had the means to get the car repaired. What about those military families who have a vehicle breakdown, a household expense, a devastating and unexpected event which taps their financial resources? What do these families do when the service member who is deployed is the one to navigate the repairs, address the expense or work through their financial situation to find relief.

Our military respond quickly, quietly and without the thought of their own safety or the loss to their family as they deploy. These men and women are our national First Responders and when they deploy for disasters as well as to overseas theatres of operations, families are left behind to fend for themselves. The service member leaves a gap in the family that often goes unfilled for the length of the deployment.

2 weeks ago over 8000 soldiers, sailors and Marines left Hampton Roads to respond to the earthquake in Haiti...although we can't compare the loss to a family when their service member deploys to the unimaginable loss in a major natural disaster such as this, just think would you be fully prepared for every financial crisis, every major repair, every devastating event that may befall your family if your spouse were to be gone for extended periods of time. Would you hope to have resources at your disposal that could help you get through the rough times...resources that you didn't have to "fight for" or "pay back". Resources that were provided to you because what your service member spouse does is Serve Our Country Proudly and without complaint!

I believing in supporting our freedom...supporting those who ensure our freedom and as these service members have our backs, we at Operation Homefront are committed to have theirs.

How to Help Effectively

As a compassionate nation of individuals wanting to help others in distress or need we often provide support early on and onngoing in times of a disaster. Over the past week I have seen passionate pleas for support to Haiti after the recent earthquake. One plea which causes great concern is the one to "send stuff" as soon as possible. After 6 years having responsibility for the coordinated local response by Red Cross in my community I can tell you DON'T SEND STUFF! In times of disaster when goods are sent which are not effectively coordinated in the relief efforts, these items are often cast aside or become damaged or lost because they are unsolicited and therefore cannot be disseminated to those who may need them.

I know we think well, if someone has lost everything, if I send them my used shoes or clothes at least they will have something. People who have experienced a life changing event such as an earthquake where they lose family, friends and their homes or businesses certainly should be thankful for everything they receive and they are. But, what we send and how we help can be productive or non-productive to the recovery efforts.

If you want to make the biggest difference you can, search for the list of charitable organizations providing relief in Haiti. Foremost in my mind is The Red Cross. Make contact with this or another charitable organization and ASK what is needed? In most cases the answer is CASH donations. The inkind donations will come primarily from the corporate contributions solicited by the relief agencies involved in the response. The inkind donations will then most likely be NEW and fully serviceable. Your cash donations can do a lot more than your STUFF. A cash donation allows the response and recovery agencies to purchase exactly what is needed in the size and quantity. It also purchases NEW items which are applicable and durable. Finally, your cash donation helps to stimulate the local economy which has been devastated by the disaster. If a particular item required by the relief effort is available in the area of the disaster, relief organizations will purchase locally to assist in support for the already devastated local economy. These donated dollars can help to get that community back on it's feet again.

So, before you make a donation to Haiti, or donation to any charitable cause, please think before you donate. Call and ask what is needed and how you can best help before you donate. That equates to your daily donations to local or national charities as well. If you want to make the greatest impact for a charitable cause which is near and dear to your heart, please consider one of these options...call the charity and ask how you can make the greatest impact for the cause or make a cash contribution which can be used to purchase what is specifically needed. The donation of a washer and dryer which may only need a thermostat or belt to work is fine but when an organization has to pay to have a donation be usable for the clients you're not doing the organization a service. You are in fact reducing their ability to help others because they are serving donations not clients. In the case of Haiti, donors who send their unsolicited shoes, clothing or food supplies should not be horrified if new reports at a later date that stockpiles of donations are being bulldozed into a landfill in Haiti because they could not be distributed, were too many to handle or were destroyed or damaged before they could be given to the families in need.

Operation Homefront Hampton Roads military families are seeing their service members deploy in response to the Earthquake in Haiti. Although the disaster in Haiti means your support is needed there, these families here on the homefront continue to need your help as well. As they see their service members deploy to Haiti for the relief efforts or to Iraq and Afghanistan, or to other locations around the world, please remember to support their needs and the needs of our wounded warriors returning home. Please visit www.operationhomefront.net/hamptonroads to see how you can help.

Greeting the New Year

How many of us take the time to make our New Year's Resolutions and then don't follow through with them? I'm guilty and I guess we all have heard the phrase "the road to Hell is paved with Good intentions". Well, that's not to say we're all going to Hell but our Good Intentions are not always something we commit to and then follow through on in our day to day lives.

For this New Years I've makde the resolution to take the time out of each day for "one random act of kindness". It doesn't take all that much to tailor a small portion of our day to commit one such act that may brighten the day of another.

It could be letting someone behind you in the grocery line go ahead if they have less items. What about paying the toll for the car behind you (well, not if it's on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel). Maybe the random act is letting someone pass you on the road if they seem to be in a hurry. Maybe it's donating an item you no longer need to a local charity or taking the time to drop note of thanks to someone who has helped you recently when you needed an assist.

It's not "what you do" as much as "the fact that you are willing to do something for someone."
Operation Homefront Hampton Roads has partnered with Giggle Ball Greetings to make that efforts to say something special to someone in your life...maybe a family member or a friend. It's that random act of kindness to say Thanks or Take Care which can mean a lot to someone who has a need and could use a helping hand. www.giggleball.com

At Operation Homefront Hampton Roads, our job is to give that helping hand to our troops and their families when times are tough. When their resources haven't gone far enough or the deployment of the husband, wife or Daddy is taking it's toll on the family. One random act of kindness you can always give is to "Just Say Thanks" to a member of our military in uniform. Say "Thanks for Securing Our Freedom". That one random act of kindness will mean more than you can know. Try it! I'm sure you'll like how it makes you feel!