Today is Veteran’s Day. It’s a day when we all take a moment to thank active duty military and returned veterans for the sacrifices that they and their families have made to make our country safer.
Today especially, but every day, we honor all of our service members and families, whether it’s through service, a home-cooked meal, a simple thank you card, or a hand shake and saying thank you. For those who honor our military and their families through service, we have a few tips to say thank you:
Operation Appreciation. Blue Star Families makes it easy to let soldiers and military families that you appreciate the sacrifices that they’ve made. Operation Appreciation encourages people to write thank you cards to active duty military, military families, and veterans. You can find everything that you need to write a letter yourself, or to create a project for a class, youth group, or your family in the Operation Appreciation toolkit.
Operation Honor Cards. Another great project from Blue Star Families, Operation Honor Cards is a simple and sincere ‘thank you’ to active duty military, military families or veterans with a pledge of service in honor of the sacrifices that they’ve made. The Operation Honor Cards toolkit has everything that you’ll need to make a pledge of service and write a thank you note to a member of our military or their families.
Joining Forces. The Initiative brings attention to the unique needs and strengths of America’s military families. This White House initiative is led by First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden, and is designed to inspire, educate and spark action from all sectors of society to ensure veterans and military families have the opportunities, resources and support they have earned. By showcasing the skills, experience and dedication of America’s veterans and military spouses, it creates greater connections between the American public and the military and highlights needs that are especially important to military families – employment, education and wellness.
Create the Good. AARP’s Create the Good has a great guide for getting involved in helping military families. When military families settle into a new home and community, they have many needs that can be met by volunteers who may be able to babysit, help with errands, locate a handyman, jumpstart a car, or prepare a meal. Volunteers can also be a resource to find others in the community who can provide support.
Veteran’s Oral History Project. The Veterans Oral History Project (VHP or the “Project”) unites diverse communities around a common purpose: collect, preserve and make accessible the personal accounts of American war veterans so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand the realities of war. VHP fulfills its mission through a nationwide network of volunteer interviewers using guidelines provided by the Project. Veterans’ narratives, historic data, press resources, and information on the Veterans History Project can be found at http://www.loc.gov/vets.
We Want You. Become part of HandsOn Network’s Community Blueprint Network. Any community leader or group of leaders may find both inspiration and practical resources to improve services and supports for the military community in their geographic area through the Community Blueprint Network (CBN). We encourage anyone and everyone who wishes to create change with and for the military community to connect to the CBN however they desire. With that open access policy established, it is important to emphasize that the Community Blueprint Network is premised on collective action rather than individual responsiveness. If you’re part of an organization that supports veterans, military families, or active service members, find out how your organization can become a part of the Community Blueprint Network.
As we approach Veterans Day this year, with wars being waged in Iraq and Afghanistan, we pay tribute to and thank our armed forces, active and retired. We honor those we have lost, and remember again our obligation to care for the veterans who risked all and sacrificed much. Some have commented that the current wars are being waged largely out of sight of most Americans. Therefore, I’d like to highlight in particular Mission Serve and the activities around 
Stressing the importance of such programs, Admiral Mullen has said, “There is a sea of goodwill out there, made up of people, places, programs, all eagerly seeking and serving those in need. Our challenge, however, lies in connecting these programs, not only to those who need help, but to each other. ”
