Air National Guard Master Sgt. Gives Back with Holiday Meals
For Air National Guard Master Sgt. Torre Jackson, Operation Homefront’s Holiday Meals for Military (HMFM) program is a force multiplier.
Ever since she first participated in the program, she has used the dinners to give back by inviting other service members to the family’s holiday meals. Her first was a Christmas dinner about six years ago.
“That’s the first time my family hosted a meal for single airmen or anyone who wanted to come and have family time,” Torre said. “We had so many people show up.”
Giving back to the community has always been important to Torre. It is one of the reasons Torre decided to join the military. She was working at the U.S. Postal Service in Raleigh, North Carolina, and had her associate’s degree but wanted to go back to school. She also wanted to travel and serve her country. At her job, she was surrounded by veterans who helped her decide on the Air Force Reserve, which she had never heard of previously.
In 2009, Torre joined the Air Force Reserve at the age of 32.
“I call myself an oldie but goodie,” she said.
Torre met her husband while training in Texas. They moved to Alaska for his first active-duty assignment. The Air National Guard base was located where her husband was stationed, so she switched to the Guard. It was with the Air National Guard that she was sent on her overseas deployment to Qatar in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. She and her husband were stationed in Arizona after Alaska. That is where they held their first Holiday Meals for Military get-together.
Since then, Torre has seen some life changes. She is no longer married and is now a single mother to 7-year-old daughter Christina. She has been promoted as well, in 2022 reaching the rank of master sergeant.
In 2021, Torre turned to the HMFM program at Easter and Christmas. Because of COVID-19, they could only open up their house to a small, close-knit group of people from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. Torre has been at the base on active duty since 2017. She said that she knows other service members who have started the same tradition as her.
“I want to thank the donors and let them know it’s not just one service member they help with one meal,” she said. “Most of the time when service members receive something, they take what they need and share it. They look out for all of us, even with putting the word out for the events. That’s how we share.”
