Fort Huachuca, Arizona - The Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays are coming and the Fort Huachuca Chapel staff sponsors annual activities to help those in the community "give back" to Soldiers in need through the Chaplain's Food Locker, Thanksgiving Voucher and Giving Tree programs.
Although Main Post Chapel staff accept donations of non-perishable food and certain household supply products year-round, right now, the focus has shifted to a need for donations for the upcoming Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.
Turkey Bowl -- food donations, football
The community has its first formal opportunity to assist Soldiers during the holidays during the upcoming Turkey Bowl at 2 p.m. Nov. 20 at Bujalski Field, adjacent to Barnes Field House gymnasium. There, chaplains' assistants will be on standby to collect food items from those attending the friendly football game which will pit Fort Huachuca military against those from Tucson's Davis-Monthan Air Force Base.
This year's Chaplains Food Locker wish list includes the following food items: canned milk, canned fruit, salad dressing, jam and jelly (other than grape), rice (in one-, two- or five-pound packages only), macaroni products, hot and cold cereal, baby food and dry baby cereal that requires cooking, canned stews, soups, canned meats and fish (other than tuna), baby-sized cartons of fruit juices, instant potatoes, cake mixes and holiday products including yams, cranberry sauce and stuffing mix.
Chaplain personnel also seek diapers of all sizes, baby wipes, toilet paper, paper towels, shampoo and detergent, according to Morgana Biddix, chapel support services assistant.
Units and post organizations should collect these items pre-game and drop them off in a single donation. Units must bring their donation to Bujalski Field between 6 a.m. and 1 p.m. Those staffing the collection points will weigh each donation and the unit with the largest donation (by weight) will be announced during the game. The chaplains' assistants will still continue to accept individual donations during the Turkey Bowl, Biddix said.
Help Families enjoy Thanksgiving
First sergeants have until Nov. 13 to submit turkey voucher forms naming military Families who could use some help with their holiday meal this year. On Nov. 19, in time for Thanksgiving, turkeys, sides of holiday food and commissary gift certificates will be available to Soldiers whose turkey voucher forms were turned in by their chain-of-command.
"We receive monetary donations to our Operation Helping Hands Program year-round," Biddix said. "That's what pays for the turkeys and fills in gaps so Soldiers receive enough food and an equal dollar amount for the gift certificates," she explained, saying that chapel staff and volunteers are currently setting aside food locker donations suitable for holiday meals.
Put Christmas in child's stocking
Help a child's Christmas wish come true by giving a gift to an anonymous child through the Fort Huachuca Giving Tree Program.
Pluck an "ornament" (tag) off the Giving Trees set up in the Main PX lobby or food court, Greely Hall, Murr Community Center, and other public locations starting Nov. 2.
Each tag contains a code, along with the gender and age of an anonymous Fort Huachuca military child, and lists a wanted or needed gift item. Purchase the item listed and deliver it, unwrapped, to a volunteer at the Giving Tree booth by Dec. 4.
If a volunteer is not available to accept the gift, bring it along with the code-bearing ornament to the Main Post Chapel. A volunteer will collect the gifts from the Giving Tree booth and the chapel turn-in locations and deliver them to the Chaplains Food Locker for temporary storage. Later, volunteers will wrap the gifts, place them in plastic bags with special codes for each Family, and on Dec. 10-11, the unit representatives will pick up the coded holiday bags from the food locker and bring them back to the units for distribution in time for Christmas giving.
Biddix explained that right now, two project leaders are rounding up volunteers to assist with this year's Giving Tree Program. They seek people who can staff the booths and hope to have booths operational from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., seven days a week. They especially seek Soldiers and Family members to help out. Most volunteers work in two-hour shifts.
Biddix said the number of Giving Trees set up in public places will depend on the availability of volunteers whose main duties will be to staff the booths, explain the program, answer questions and collect gifts.
She explained how the program works.
"First sergeants have until October 28 to turn in the Giving Tree forms. Each form is assigned a code associated with a military Family which is why it's important for the gift giver to turn in the tag [from the Giving Tree] along with the gift," Biddix stated.
The unit then turns the Giving Tree forms over to chapel personnel. The tags are prepared at the chapel, listing the code, gender, child's age and desired gift. Next, the tags are hung on a Giving Tree for distribution to those interested in participating. As gifts are turned in and wrapped, they are placed in the plastic bag with the code that matches the one on the tag turned in with the gift.
The coded bags are then picked up at the food locker by representatives of the units and brought to the requesting unit's first sergeant who delivers the gifts to the Soldiers.
"In each unit, only the first sergeant knows the name of the Family receiving the gifts. The program is completely confidential," Biddix said.
This year's Giving Tree Program is projected to help 600 children.
"We don't want a single child or Family to miss out on Thanksgiving or Christmas," Biddix stated. "The holiday programs are a huge team effort within the chapel and the community. We could not do it without our volunteers and the community's support," she said.
For more information about the Chaplain's Food Locker, Thanksgiving and Giving Tree Programs, call 520.533.4748 or 520.678.3698.
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