When military spouses Jessica Manfre, Samantha Gomolka, Maria Reed and Stacy Bilodeau started GivingTuesdayMilitary, they never expected it to generate so much buzz so fast. Only once year since its inception, military spouses and people who support the military have left a large imprint on the hearts of many each GivingTuesday.
Created in 2012, the day seeks to be a “global generosity movement unleashing the power of people and organizations to transform their communities and the world,” a statement on their website says. GivingTuesdayMilitary has the same goals in mind.
“GivingTuesdayMilitary started as a way for us to collectively work together to build a kinder word. One of our other founders, Samantha Gomolka said it best in those early days, ‘We want to create a world our children already believe exists,’” Manfre said.
This year, the GivingTuesdayMilitary crew was armed and ready with gifts of kindness for their local and global communities. Here are some of the amazing acts of generosity performed on Dec. 1, 2020.
Acts of kindness on GivingTuesdayMilitary
Wendi Iacobello of Strength 4 Spouses donated change to a local laundromat where she has been doing her laundry after her washer and dryer were broken in a recent move.
“So, I’ve spent two days per week the last month and a half with my baby in tow at this little laundry mat in a tiny town nearby. I fell in love with the sweet people in this tiny town of Cyril. Today, in honor of #GivingTuesdayMilitary I dropped off a note and some change to be a blessing to someone else as this laundry mat has been a HUGE blessing to us,” she said.
Geriann Weisbrook of Operation Christmas Train stated, “We sent out Christmas to deployed troops, including a tree/ornaments/hot chocolate and cups/stockings and tree skirt and 200+ boxes to folks on Bagram/Germany/UAE and other locations.My favorite moment was speaking with a former recipient and knowing that five years later the tree we sent him is still being used.”
Marisol Anastazia teamed up with several organizations in her local community, including 2020 AFI Military Spouse of the Year, Yvonne Coombes, and The Salvation Army Fountain Valley Corps and AUSA Pikes Peak Chapter to ring bells for the Salvation Army Red Kettle Bell season. Over 30 volunteers that donated over 63 hours of their time.
Together with Combs, the team of volunteers delivered around 237 homeless blessing bags. Other volunteers traveled across collecting donated toys in partnership with Dollar Tree and Operation Homefront. “We estimated around 2,627 toys were picked up and delivered to the Salvation Army Fountain Valley Corps,” she said.
Jennifer Marx and her son distributed 12 Starbucks gift cards to strangers at their local hospital as part of a month-long generosity project. They also dropped off donuts for local firefighters and cookies for the gate guards at their installation.
“Inspired by all of the great folks spreading kindness, we are continuing our giving for another 23 days!” she said.
Christina Etchberger, founder of It’s a Military Life, created over a hundred cards and ornaments as a family and sent them to the local veterans in hospice care, along with small gifts. She also co-hosted Veteran Last Patrol’s Operation Holiday Salute, where she continued to promote sending cards to veterans in end of life care.
Jessica Manfre, one of the founders of GivingTuesdayMilitary, was busy on Dec. 1 trying to give back to her local community. In addition to small acts of kindness like paying-it-forward at Starbucks and dropping of treats to her local fire station and police station, she also partnered with larger organizations to help military families.
Through a partnership with Chick-fil-A, Manfre and her GivingTuesdayMilitary team were able to raise money for the Family Living Center in order to purchase starter kids for a transitional housing program that services homeless families. They also partnered with Lowe’s to do a Christmas makeover for a local military family, as well as held a diaper drive, pajama drive and homeless shelter essentials drive for people in need in the local community.
Carrie Maraschino spends every GivingTuesdayMilitary visiting the graves of fallen service members.
“We visited 150 graves at Arlington National Cemetery. This photo is of me visiting my friend’s husband. Mike is the reason we now organize this every December as part of Giving Tuesday Military. Every year the requests come from all over the country, often from Gold Star families that live across the country and cannot be there themselves to visit their loved one. It means the world to them that they can request us to visit their loved ones, pass along a message, or leave something on their behalf,” she said.
Brittany Hahn Boccher and her husband, Adam, delivered a special Santa Sled to a little boy in their neighborhood.
“On this Giving Tuesday Military we surprised a local military family with a Christmas surprise! My husband Adam Boccher worked hard to build a Santa sled for one special little boy!” she said.
Lia Mendoza sewed 103 fleece hats to give away to homeless veterans in her area. Together with The Battalion Betties Platton in Delaware, Mendoza also donated an SUV full of jackets, socks, pants, hats, scarves and blankets to the Veterans Awareness Foundation in Greenwood, Delaware.
Amanda Leigh Baity purchased and mailed out 40 children’s books entitled “Mommy is My Hero” and “Daddy is My Hero” to military families around the country. She also wrote inspiring personal messages on the inside, if requested.
Other acts of kindness from military spouses and those that support the military included:
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Malissa Denney wrote notes of encouragement and passed them out to spouses around her duty station in the Camp Atterbury area.
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Jessica Moser connected with a local Starbucks to deliver coffee and pastries to one of the units on her local installation.
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Tina Predmore, together with a local in her community who heard about GivingTuesdayMilitary, donated gift cards for coffee and pastries, as well as self-care goodie bags, for front-line workers at her local hospital.
- Jessica Woodruff, along with her daughter, dropped off donated toys to a local hospital waiting room.
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Sheila Snodgrass Rupp says her daughter has been moved by the GivingTuesdayMilitary movement, and this year collected and donated 300 pairs of fuzzy socks to a local foster care center.
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Amanda Bonsall collected and distributed 260 “kindness cards” to her husband’s squadron.
- Maria Reed, one of the founders of GivingTuesdayMilitary, paid for the groceries of five families in her local Fort Hood area.
- Julie Moser dropped of Chemo Care Kits to her local hospital.
- The Armed Forces Financial Network donated over $10,000 in AFFN Thank You Cards (prepaid $50 debit cards) distributed to service members, veterans, military families, caregivers, front line workers and veteran service organization partners at home and around the globe.
- A Girl Scout troop in Okinawa collected and donated almost 1,000 items to a local food bank.
The acts of kindness weren’t are large-scale, though. Many people donated treats to local firefighters, police officers and frontline workers or paid-it-forward at drive-thrus like Starbucks and Chick-fil-A. Others visited their local blood bank to donate blood, or left notes on friends’ doors or cars to let them know they were thinking about them. And to the founders of GivingTuesdayMilitary, that’s what the day is all about.
“Kindness may cause a collective eye roll for some but it really is just a word that encompasses service to others and being a good human. We need each other, especially right now during this pandemic. By committing to kindness and finding ways to serve our communities, we can create an undeniable wave of impact on our world,” Manfre said.
