Air Force Reserve Family Appreciates Abundance of Groceries and Gratitude at Event
Groceries don’t always make Air Force Reserve spouse Chaliece Gribble emotional, but her eyes filled with tears at Operation Homefront’s Holiday Meals for Military® event in Plain City, Utah.
Chaliece and her husband, Nick, and their 2-year-old son were among 400 families at the spring event in the parking lot of Kent’s Market, one of Operation Homefront’s generous partners. Each family enjoyed a barbecue meal as they interacted with others in their community, and they left with fresh foods, pantry staples, and other items.
Nick, an Air Force Reservist, serves in security forces at Hill Air Force Base and works as a control room operator at a local corrections facility. He learned about Holiday Meals for Military® from his “first shirt,” the first sergeant who takes care of enlisted personnel and their families.
A legion of volunteers greeted the Gribbles and other families at the event. The enthusiastic crew filled their vehicle with food, drinks, paper goods, and even laundry detergent as they rolled from station to station.
Chaliece and Nick are expecting their second child in fall. They, like many American families, have felt the impact of rising food and fuel costs.
“I started crying because I felt overwhelmed with gratitude with how much we were receiving and how friendly everyone was,” Chaliece said. “Grocery (costs) are astronomical, and it helped with our budget.”
Holiday Meals for Military® is one of many programs that support Operation Homefront’s mission of building strong, stable, and secure military and veteran families by improving their financial, emotional, and social well-being. Since 2010, Operation Homefront has provided meals to more than 230,000 military and veteran families throughout our country.
Enlisted service members and their families often live paycheck to paycheck, partly because of added expenses such as frequent relocations, out-of-pocket moving expenses, child-care costs and availability, and spouse unemployment and underemployment. Volatile economic times make them especially vulnerable to financial struggle.
In a 2025 survey, 28 percent of military families reported experiencing low or very low food security. The number rose from 16 percent in the 2023 survey by national nonprofit Blue Star Families.
“It’s wonderful to see that people do care about military families and are making sure they are taken care of.” – Chaliece Gribble, Air Force Reserve spouse
Nick enlisted in the Air Force in 2009 because he was looking for a path forward after high school. After four years of active-duty service, he transitioned to the Air Force Reserve to pursue a civilian career while still serving our nation.
He was deployed for six months to the United Arab Emirates and for six months to Kuwait.
The Gribbles met in Utah six years ago, and they have been married four years. Through those years, Chaliece has adapted to Nick being away on Reserve duty. Drill weekends and longer training exercises impact the family more since they became parents.
Chaliece said Nick often feels like he sacrifices family time for his service. For that reason, she was especially grateful for the donors, volunteers, and Operation Homefront staff members who made military and veteran families feel appreciated.
“It’s no small feat to make sure families are taken care of and relieve that financial burden a little bit,” she said. “It’s wonderful to see that people do care about military families and are making sure they are taken care of.”
