‘Tis the Season for Operation Homefront’s Holiday Meals for Military®
As the holiday season approaches, Operation Homefront is rolling out Holiday Meals for Military events across the nation.
Since 2010, Operation Homefront’s HMFM has provided more than 210,000 holiday meals to military and veteran families.
Thousands of volunteers, Operation Homefront staff, and donors, gather at locations to serve our active-duty military and veteran families.
For Marine veteran Scotti Fraser, last year’s event in Houston, Texas, provided a respite during a time of financial difficulty. With rising prices related to inflation and a growing family, Scotti was having difficulty keeping up financially. He and his wife, Stacia, have two children — ages 17 and 19 — as well as two grandchildren ages 2 years and 6 months old.
“It can get expensive with six people all living in one house,” he said.
“We would not have had a holiday meal without Operation Homefront. It would have been leftovers and sandwiches.” – Scotti Fraser, Marine Veteran
Scotti and his family attended their first HMFM event at the NASA Gilruth Center in Houston, Texas. The event provided 100 military families with meals. Families also enjoyed crafts, activities, and pictures with Santa. There was even a surprise visit from Astronaut Randy Bresnik.
“We would not have had a holiday meal without Operation Homefront,” Scotti said. “It would have been leftovers and sandwiches.”
Also in Texas, Air Force veteran Kristina Torres took her family to the Thanksgiving event held in San Antonio.
“You don’t have any idea how helpful it is,” she said.
But it is not just financial relief. She misses her military brothers and sisters still serving as well as family and friends in her home state of Pennsylvania — so the warmth from the volunteers and other attendees provides emotional support and eases the sadness of being away during the holidays.
“At the end of the day, if I could meet the donors and shake their hands, I would,” Kristina said. “For my family (the support) has been humongous.”
Visit Operation Homefront’s family events page or follow Operation Homefront on Facebook to find out if a Holiday Meals for Military event is being held in your area.
