Bremerton, WA event seeks to provide holiday aid to military families
BREMERTON, Wash. - Nonprofit organization Operation Homefront provided food assistance to 400 military and veteran families in Bremerton on Tuesday during its annual "Holiday Meals for Military" event.
The initiative aims to address food insecurity among service members, with the organization reporting that more than 28% of military and veteran families struggle to afford enough food.
Relief for Families Stationed Far From Home
Volunteers braved rainy weather to greet attendees as vehicles drove through the distribution site.
Each participating family received a $100 Walmart gift card, soft drinks, community resource information, and holiday arts and crafts kits for children, including letters to Santa.
What they're saying:
Laura Scroggins, senior regional operations manager for Operation Homefront and the spouse of a veteran, said the holidays bring distinct challenges for military households.
"This time of the year, it’s often very difficult for our military families, they’re far from their support systems," Scroggins said. "They’re far from family, some of them don’t have their service members with them, some of them are celebrating the holidays by themselves."
Fostering Community During Deployments
Dig deeper:
For attendees, the event served as both practical financial relief and a reminder of community support while stationed away from extended relatives.
Kailee Durante, whose husband has served in the Navy for nearly 11 years, attended the event for a third consecutive year.
"It can be lonely," Durante said. "So sometimes when you have the extra sense of community it’s so nice because it really shows you that we’re all a family truly and you have people even if your family isn’t here."
Kailah Bannis, whose husband has served in the Navy for nearly 18 years, echoed that sentiment, noting the frequent moves required of service members.
"We’ve been stationed across the world all over, in Japan, and there’s definitely families that don’t have their family base over the holidays," Bannis said. "So it’s really nice when organizations do stuff like this."
The Source: Information for this story came from original reporting by FOX 13 Seattle reporter Shirah Matsuzawa, who attended the event and spoke with Operation Homefront's senior regional operations manager and two women who have husbands in the military.
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