FOR IRWIN, Calif. -- "It started as a personal gesture eight years ago," said Bridget Blehm. The Yorba Linda housewife had picked the tags of five young Marines of Camp Pendleton families on a Christmas "giving tree" at her church.
"They all had four to five kids," Blehm recalled. Undaunted, she started sending emails to those she thought might be interested. Her network of friends is wide and deep, as she and her husband Ed, owner of a small engineering company, were well-known in their community, where they have organized a popular East Lake Christmas boat parade for the past 23 years.
"I told them I know it's late, but if you will send money, we'll go out and shop. The money just came pouring in. This was the first week of December, at the height of the war in Iraq. I couldn't understand how these military families could be struggling."
"It also didn't make sense to a lot of other people, because they just gravitated to us," Blehm said. "After all the shopping was done, we had a lot of money left. So we divided up the money to distribute to the families. My dad said every man needs a few bucks in his wallet. We still do that today."
Starting at Camp Pendleton, about 200 miles east from her home, Blehm's energy has been transformed into a non-profit organization, For Families of Active Military.
Three years ago, FFAM began connecting to Fort Irwin, 100 miles away, when her volunteers started delivering cartons of donated foods to help military families here with their Thanksgiving dinners.
By partnering with other service organizations, businesses, youth clubs, and individuals in the Los Angeles area, FFAM is able to realize its mission statement, to offer "stability, strength and support to the military and families of active military on an emergency and proactive basis, whether it be physical, emotional or financial."
FFAM also partnered again with students at La Salle High School in Pasadena, to provide over 150 Christmas trees this year, for Fort Irwin's Army Community Service to distribute to needy military families, said Janet Ford, special events coordinator for Fort Irwin's Family, Morale, Welfare and Recreation directorate.
Blehm and her husband Ed also annually welcome several dozen young Soldiers and Marines to enjoy Thanksgiving and Christmas with them and their East Lake neighbors. Neighbors drop off foods and recipe items at their home the day before, said Ed, to be readied at work stations in their kitchen. The next day, volunteers crowd their house, to prepare the foods and transport them to the lakeside community center for the holiday feast.
"She's like a symphony conductor," said Ed, in describing his wife during those hectic few days.
Looking to start another tradition, on Nov. 22, like on a November Saturday last year, Blehm recruited a platoon of volunteers from the greater Los Angeles area to come to Fort Irwin to help decorate the post's Towne Center for Christmas. Volunteers included La Salle High School students from Pasadena and from other parts of greater Los Angeles. This year, a mother chose to bring her entire family to Fort Irwin to volunteer here as her birthday present, said Blehm.
"Fort Irwin is far away, but my dad was Army," said Blehm. "My father was in Korea, when my mother was left at home with five children, and she was pregnant with me."
Blehm knows Fort Irwin well, having spent weekends and summer vacations here, when her mother brought the family to visit her father, where he trained as a reservist food services officer. "He loved the Army and retired as a chief warrant officer," Blehm said. Regrettably, her father died seven years ago, before she started her work at Fort Irwin.
"It's different today for young Soldiers," said Blehm. "They're joining the military, knowing they'll be going to war someday."
Alex Tuason, a La Salle High School senior who volunteered again to help decorate Fort Irwin Towne Center, had similar thoughts about the Soldiers here.
"These people do a lot for us," Tuason said. "They could be doing something else. Instead, they do this for us, to keep our country safe. I wanted to do something to give back, to be part of something bigger."
Tuason is a member of a high school club, Support Our Troops, which meets weekly, and helped organize the donations for the "Boxes of Love" Thanksgiving food cartons distributed here and at Camp Pendleton.
"It was one of our bigger service opportunities," said Tuason. "We got our whole school involved in this."
Social Sharing