Honor Our Military Service Members – Thoughts from Tom Nash
June 5, 2017
A few weeks ago, we observed Memorial Day. Since the end of the Civil War, this has been a day to honor and remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our nation. Just weeks before the end of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln pleaded with his fellow citizens to, “bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan.” As I was reflecting on the meaning of Memorial Day, it reminded me that we all need to do more to honor those who are serving or have served in our armed forces to protect our freedoms and American way of life.
Serve.gov, the federal agency charged with promoting and fostering volunteering and national service in America and managed by the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), offered these ten ways you can “give back” to the more than 23 million American men and women who have served in the military:
- Visit a wounded veteran at the hospital.
- Offer your home repair skills to a veteran or military family.
- Create an online neighborhood user group that can be used to share information about neighborhood activities, recommend reliable repair companies, and find babysitters. An online group may also help identify the needs of your neighbors.
- Volunteer your financial, legal, or career expertise via MilServe.
- Deliver a meal or care packages to veterans.
- Help a veteran tell their story through a project such as the Veteran’s History Project. You can download a VHP field kit from the Library of Congress website.
- Volunteer with an organization, such as Canine Companions for Independence, that provides therapy dogs to veterans.
- Offer a vet a ride by volunteering with the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) organization, which provides free transportation to men and women unable to travel to VA medical facilities on their own.
- Visit serve.gov and use keyword “veterans” to find more opportunities to serve our nation’s veterans.
- Say “Thank You”.
Please join me in honoring, remembering, recognizing, and appreciating those who are now in our armed forces and those who have served in the past. To all our veterans: Thank you for your service.
