Posts Tagged ‘Memorial Day’

Make Your Memorial Day BBQ Worth More

Monday, May 28th, 2012

Happy Memorial Day! Today is the perfect time for backyard barbecue and busting out your favorite white jeans. Today is also the perfect time to do a little social good for your community.

Last week, we discussed how to honor your community’s military men and women on Memorial Day. You can take those ideas one step further by turning your Memorial Day celebration into a charity event to benefit military service men, veterans, families, or organizations working with military.

Choose a cause or individual that touches you, and raise donations during your party!

How will you do this? Check out our steps below for fundraising success!

  1. Brainstorm with guests prior to the event: Ask your guests to do some research on military needs and nonprofit organizations that work with military or military families. Come up with a list of organizations that you can relate to. Come together as a group to make a uniformed decision about which cause you want to support at your event. When you draw up your invitations, let guests know that you will be collecting donations at your celebration, if they would like to donate.
  2. Contact the organization that you wish to help: Give the organization of your choice a heads up that you are hosting a benefit event in hopes of collecting donations for them. The organization may have certain items they need instead of monetary donations. Some organizations do not accept monetary donations.
  3. Define a purpose: Let your guests know the purpose of your benefit event. Whether your purpose is to help out a veteran in your community, or to collect money for a nonprofit because you like their mission, it is important to let guests know where their money will be going.
  4. Assign a leader to the event: Assign a leader to the fundraising aspect of your event. Someone should be in charge of collecting the donations. It is also important to assign a role to the person who will be making the actual donation.
  5. Alert the community: Ask guests if they would like to get the community involved in fundraising. Do you want to make this event internal or external? These questions can be answered in line with your fundraising goals. What are you trying to accomplish through your event?
  6. Make it fun: Assign a theme to your Memorial Day event. Guests are more likely to have a good time and be more involved in your purpose, if they are enjoying the atmosphere. Whether your theme is Memorial Day barbecue or an All-American party, just have a good time!
  7. Say thank-you: Let your guests know how thankful you are for their contributions at your event. If you want to hold another similar event, guests are more likely to give again, if they feel like their actions were appreciated.
  8. Spread the benefits: If possible, let guests know how their donations benefited the community or the chosen organization or individual. Did their donation provide a military family in need with a warm meal? However your event benefited the community; let guests know so they have a tangible mission to hold on to.

 

Memorial Day is a great way to have fun with friends and family, but remember to support your troops while you are having fun!

Are you turning your Memorial Day celebration into more than just a day of barbecue? Let us know about it in the comments section below!

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Posted in Events, Fundraising & Development, Military | No Comments »

Celebrate Veterans on Memorial Day by doing this!

Friday, May 25th, 2012

Formerly known as Decoration Day, Memorial Day originated after the American Civil War to commemorate the fallen Union soldiers of the Civil War. This Memorial Day, we invite you to celebrate soldiers by volunteering with the 5 easy volunteer opportunities!

  1. Honor fallen heroes by volunteering at a veterans’ cemetery on Memorial Day or any time of year. Volunteers can give cemetery tours, help with maintenance, raise and lower flags and more. Use the National Cemetery Administration website to find a volunteer opportunity near you.
  2. Volunteer to help The National Memorial Day Parade: If you will be in Washington, DC on Memorial Day 2012, you have the unique opportunity to be part of the parade of the year! It takes hundreds and hundreds of willing hands and feet to make this large parade a success. We are looking for many volunteers to help in the assembly area, along the parade route, and in the parade’s dispersal area near the White House. Each volunteer will get a special Parade T-shirt and (most importantly) a chance to meet and thank personally those who have served, and sacrificed, to keep our country free!
  3. Volunteers needed to distribute roses for Memorial Day! A group of volunteers is working to bring floral beauty to the graves at this Memorial Day. This Monday, May 28, more than 100 volunteers from Memorial Day Flowers will hand out more than 50,000 roses at the cemetery. Visitors are given two roses, one to place on a grave, and one to take home in remembrance. All of the flowers are donated by farmers throughout Ecuador. The idea was initiated by Ramiro Peñaherrera of Flowers for Kids. He’s part Ecuadorean and has family members buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Being that Ecuador is one of the largest rose producers in the world, he set out to get farmers there to donate roses for the cause.
  4. Honor Veterans by planting flags! Recently, over 200 volunteers spent Wednesday planting flags for Memorial Day on the grounds of Boston Common in downtown Boston in honor of those who served and died for our country.  The 33,000 flags represent all of the fallen soldiers from Massachusetts who have died since the civil war.
  5. Reflect on the service of Veteran’s: Simply celebrate Veteran’s Day with your family by reflecting on the service that Veteran’s have contributed to America. Propose such topics as, “Where would America be without the help of our veterans?” or “How has a veteran individually impacted your life?” Or if you are so fortunate to have a veteran in your life, celebrate, honor, and thank him for his tremendous bravery and service.

Whether you’re volunteering with your local veterans’ parade or simply reflecting on veterans’ service, we hope that you have a fantastic Memorial Day! Tell us how do you plan on  commemorating veterans this Memorial Day in the COMMENTS!

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Posted in Family Volunteering, Volunteering | 1 Comment »

16 Ways to Honor Our Military on Memorial Day

Tuesday, May 22nd, 2012

Memorial Day is this upcoming Monday, May 28. Time to enjoy a day off work, put on your best white attire, and fire up the back yard barbecue. Have you ever wondered why we celebrate Memorial Day?

Memorial Day was first celebrated in 1865 to honor fallen Union soldiers after the American Civil War. By the 20th Century, Memorial was extended to honor all fallen American soldiers. In 1968, Memorial Day became an official American holiday to be celebrated on the last Monday in May.

What can you do to honor the true meaning of Memorial Day? Check out today’s ideas below:

  1. Ask your local newspaper editor to include a list of names on Memorial Day of fallen soldiers in your community.
  2. Visit a military cemetery. Put flowers, ribbons, or American flags on soldiers’ graves.
  3. Wear a yellow ribbon in honor of current soldiers or veterans in your community.
  4. Fly an American flag in your yard at half mast to honor the memory of fallen soldiers.
  5. Take a moment of silence during your busy day to observe the military families who have lost a loved one to war.
  6. Write thank you letters for currently serving military or veterans for their service to protecting our country and community members.
  7. Visit a military museum or historic military site.
  8. Organize a community-wide observance to honor the military in your community who have served or who are currently serving.
  9. Change your profile picture to an American flag in honor of the military.
  10. Tell others why you are thankful for the military by using the hashtag #RememberThem on .
  11. Educate your children on the importance of observing Memorial Day and the dedicated service of military men and women.
  12. Volunteer with military families from babysitting children to cooking a meal for a military family in your community.
  13. Hold a donation fundraiser for your community’s veterans’ hospital.
  14. Volunteer with the Red Cross.
  15. Educate yourself on the needs of returning military and educate your community on these needs. Make sure that your community is accurately meeting veteran needs. The Community Blueprint has many educational resources.
  16. Get involved with the Got Your 6 Campaign.

It is important to always remember the dedicated service of military men and women. Their dedication to service is truly inspirational to every American, especially all of us in the nonprofit volunteer sector.

However your decide to celebrate Memorial Day this upcoming Monday, take time to honor those who have given their lives for our country’s freedom.

How are you honoring the military for Memorial Day? We would love for you to share in the comments section below!

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Posted in Events, Military | 9 Comments »

Helping Military Families Is As Easy As …

Monday, May 30th, 2011

By Bailey Bernius, Public Relations Specialist, National Military Family Association. Today’s post originally appeared on the National Conference on Volunteering and Service blog.

In communities all over the world, military families are living a unique lifestyle in order to serve our country alongside their service member.

It can be difficult for those not familiar with the military to understand this lifestyle and to figure out their role in helping military families in a time of need.

Everyone has a role to play in supporting military families – not just their friends and neighbors. Employers, educators, community leaders, government leaders, and health care professionals can all help support military families in unique ways.

For more tips and ideas, read the National Military Family Association’s Finding Common Ground: A Toolkit for Communities Supporting Military Families.

Here are some simple ways civilian families can help the military families who are living right in their own communities.

Hang out: Where appropriate, invite the spouse of a deployed service member to go out to dinner, see a movie, or go to a concert. Getting out of the house is a great stress reliever during a lonely time.

Be yourself: Look for opportunities to help by matching your own talents and resources with the needs of another.

Volunteer: Organizations all over the country are helping military families. Whether it is with time, money, or talents, it is the volunteers that keep these much-needed services running. Check out your state volunteer website or use the search engine on Serve.gov.

Provide a helping hand: When a service member you know is deployed, offer a play date for their kids, run errands, assist with home repair, mow the lawn, cook dinner, or help with anything else that is so much easier to do when there are two parents in the home.

Show your appreciation: Business owners can offer military discounts for service members and their families.

Give a taste of home: Bake or cook for single military personnel who are living in the barracks or invite them over for a holiday when they’re stationed away from home.

Be a friend: Having a spouse deployed is extremely difficult and having a shoulder to lean on eases the hardship.

Be understanding: Civilians can offer employment opportunities to military spouses and understand that their lifestyle may cause time gaps in a military spouse’s resume. It can be hard to establish a career while having to move to a new duty station every few years. Co-workers can rally behind the family of a deployed service member, providing a close-to-home support group.

Help make a house a home: Organize your neighborhood association to make newly-arrived military families welcome in your community.

Support education: Make military children feel welcome when they arrive in your children’s schools. When possible, be lenient with tryout dates and admission cut-offs. Recognize their achievements at other schools and find the best fit for them to thrive.

Be a proud American: Through actions and words, at every opportunity, support the men and women of the military. Never take for granted the individual freedoms these service members work tirelessly to safeguard and defend, often at great personal risk and sacrifice. They do it not only for themselves, but for their family members who support them daily in their patriotic service and privilege.

Keep your flag flying high!

* This information was gathered from more than 4,000 military spouses surveyed by the National Military Family Association.

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Posted in Military, Volunteerism | No Comments »