By Leslie Hunt for Hope For The Warriors

The holiday season isn’t always joyful for all. It can be an especially tough time for many veterans and members of the military. And then along came 2020, and things became even worse, adding more uncertainty and anxiety for all.

We know, we know—the holidays are supposed to be such a special time for everyone, but that’s just not the case.

Whether it be because of deployment separation, battlefield injuries, or financial struggles, there are those in our circle who don’t look forward to the holidays. In fact, they may fall deeper into depression because of the stress of the season. Some feel defeated and overwhelmed by their inability to provide special gifts and gatherings for their families.

But Hope For The Warriors has a plan, a holiday plan, that has been helping spread hope and cheer since 2012. It’s the Hope For The Warriors Holiday Giving Initiative, a national program open to post-9/11 combat wounded or Gold Star military families that are struggling financially during the holidays. 

Hope For The Warriors is a national nonprofit which assists veterans, service members, and military families with a variety of programming, including clinical health and wellness, sports and recreation, and transition services.

Since initiating the Hope For The Warriors Holiday Giving Initiative almost a decade ago, more than 1,000 children have been impacted by the program. Read how one family was touched by Hope’s Holiday efforts:

“On behalf of our family, we would like to thank you and the entire Hope For The Warriors staff for providing gifts to our family. My kids were super excited and overwhelmed with joy at all the gifts. I am in tears as I type this because with all this world is going through and with the new normal of our family, this has touched us. We’ll never forget . . . ever. Please extend our love and appreciation to everyone. Thank you, and God bless you all.”

If you know a family in need this holiday season, please let them know about the Hope For The Warriors Holiday Giving Initiative, and urge them to apply. It’s a very simple process.

Military families in need can apply for assistance until Nov. 13, 2020, by visiting www.hopeforthewarriors.org and clicking the “apply for services” tab. Upon approval and referral from the Hope For The Warriors Critical Care team, families are asked to complete a wish list for each child under the age of 18. Then the wish lists are provided to interested donors to fulfill.

Maybe you aren’t a family in need, but want to support a family. It’s also easy process to sponsor a family! First, go here to get signed up for the program. Shortly after that, you’ll be contacted by a HOPE team member to welcome you, confirm that you’re ready to help, and walk you through the process.

There are many options to help the families, including:

• Shop, wrap, and ship the gifts directly to the family. 
• Shop, wrap, and have a local Hope For The Warriors office pick up the gifts and deliver them directly to the family.
• Purchase gift cards to give to the family, allowing them to pick out, purchase, and wrap the gifts. 
• Donate to Hope For The Warriors through the Holiday Giving Initiative so that we can purchase and ship gifts directly to the family.

In a year that has been so difficult for so us all, let’s work together to spread HOPE and cheer this holiday season; let’s make sure our military families in need or in crisis have a bit of brightness and joy in their lives.

Leslie Hunt is the Development Director for Hope For The Warriors and has been with the organization since 2009. She is a military spouse and has been married to a retired U.S. Marine aviator for 23 years. They currently reside in Spotsylvania, Virginia, and have two children, Kaitlyn (19), a student at Savannah College of Art and Design, and Tyler (20), a student at the University of Kentucky.