| Many people have expressed their concern and offered to assist those families left behind because of military activation or deployment. If you want to help, the following are just some ways you and your church can get involved through Operation Home Fires:
Make a Donation
Supporting our Families
- Provide regular support for a neighbor in need by adopting a local family.
- Correspond regularly with a family and offer encouragement by writing a note each week.
- Help with responsibilities around the house by becoming a Mom-for-a-day or Dad-for-a-day.
- Provide valuable respite from the stress of loneliness by child-sitting for a family.
- Send a card to family members on birthdays, holidays, just about any day becomes special when someone cares.
- Prepare a home-cooked meal and companionship. It’s better than MREs(Meals-Ready-to-Eat) and a lot more fun.
- Coordinate home repairs, maintenance, mowing lawns, trimming hedges, whatever it takes to keep the home “livable.”
- Invite the families for an afternoon picnic or a day at the park.
- Help a family by providing local transportation for grocery shopping, errands, church, or the doctor.
Offering Emotional Support and Wellness
- Offer your church chapel as a Prayer Refuge.
- Link up with Stephen Ministries to provide the friendship and support that comes with caring.
- Provide support for families during times of local hospital stays or bereavement.
- Start a Support Group for families and those effected by this deployment (contact the American Red Cross/Central Florida Chapter for more information).
Providing Emergency Assistance
- Providing the financial resources by giving to Operation Home Fires Financial Assistance Fund.
- Helping pack grocery items and baby items for distribution through the Christian Service Center’s Family & Emergency Services Program.
- Special transportation needs for long distance travel.
- In-kind giving of clothes, toys, games, sporting equipment, or just about anything that will help make this transition normal.
Finding Community-Based Support
- Help add new skills in high technology like computer, e-mail, printing, composing, communicating, and more, by starting a Computer Skills Class.
- Host a financial seminar that includes topics like financial planning, budgeting, and consolidation of bills.
- Assist in finding a quality after-school daycare program for children. Organizations like Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Florida stand ready to assist any families in need.
- Provide slots for children to attend upcoming Summer Camps. If your organization hosts such a camp, set aside some slots. If you want to help, provide scholarships for those willing to attend.
* For more information or a list of ways you can get involved, call 407-478-1698 and ask for our Military Support Specialist or visit the Christian Service Center's website at http://www.christianservicecenter.org/operation.htm .
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