Thursday, September 29, 2016

Looking back...


When we began Operation Touch of Home (OTOH) in 2007, we had no idea that we'd still be at it nine years later. Our first—and what we thought would be our only—care packaging event took place in November 2007. We simply wished to show our support for soldiers stationed overseas during the holiday season. Our expectations did not go beyond gathering the community for one event to send much-needed supplies and well wishes to our deployed soldiers. Yet after we saw how successful it was, we decided to continue our efforts.

For the next eight years, we held bi-annual events to show the soldiers that they had not been forgotten. As the number of deployed soldiers has decreased over the years, we've found it more and more difficult to gather names and addresses of those still overseas. This was one of the reason that we decided to not hold an event in spring 2016and this is the main reason why OTOH will be on hiatus after our event in November.

We have made some wonderful relationships over the years and have been able to touch countless lives, including those of soldiers and their families. It can make a world of difference to know that someone out there is cheering for you, even if that person is a perfect stranger. We hope that our efforts will cause a ripple effect of small acts of kindness throughout our community.