10 Easy Ways To Support Service Members And Their Families

Visiting older veterans by contacting your local nursing home, or visiting wounded veterans at your local veteran’s hospital are both great ways to show that you care on a face-to-face, human level.

The time that you spend with older vets or wounded vets can really make or break their days, as they can be long and lonely. Call up your local institutions to see what their policies are.

Organizations like the Angel Bakers Team send homemade goodies to soldiers who have gone through especially trying times.

Their goal is to show the that troops' heroic actions aren’t overlooked, and to hopefully raise spirits with a simple gesture when things are bleak.

Giving an active service member a chance to lounge around in civilians’ clothes, take a nap on a living room couch, call their family in peace, and sit around a family dinner table can do wonders for their well being.

They miss their family and their cozy life, and a taste of that can go a long way. Inviting more than one service member will help ease everyone into the atmosphere, if you have the room!

OCP will help you get your expired coupons to active military members and their families, as they can still use them to redeem goods.

Military pay isn’t extravagant, and those with families need all the help that they can get.

Organizations like Blue Star Families will help you figure out how to put together a family fun night kit for military families.

You can get together with your own friends and family to put together packages of board games, puzzles, and movies to help those military families have a fun evening.

Often, veterans' graves go untouched due to no longer having family nearby or at all. A simple, quick act of cleaning up a veteran’s grave is a gesture that says that we won’t ever forget what our servicemen and women have sacrificed for us.

It's not just service members that might need a comforting dinner.

When someone’s wife, husband, mom, or dad is away for training or deployment, there is a huge strain put on the family. Keeping things together on a daily basis can become such a struggle. Something as simple as cooking a dinner or doing some chores around the yard or house can really go miles.

When members of our military go away to training or are deployed, they sometimes don’t have anyone willing or able to take care of their pets. You’ll make a huge difference in their hearts if you make it possible for them to come home to their fur baby, instead of having to surrender their cats, dogs, or other animals upon leaving.

Organizations like PACT For Animals will help you figure out how to move forward.

Many volunteer services are in need of specific skill sets, like grant writing or legal advice. You can check in with your local charities or organizations that help service members or veterans to see if you might be able to assist in any way.

A hand-written letter can go a really long way when it comes to boosting spirits. There are lots of organizations that will help get your thank you note to an active service member, such as Operation Gratitude.

Will you do any of this to help the troops? Please SHARE with your family and friends on Facebook!