Those serving our country in the military sometimes need a helping hand around the holidays. Two local organizations recently teamed up to provide some of that help for service members at Fort Gordon.
Golden Harvest Food Bank helps to feed families facing food insecurity in 25 counties throughout the CSRA. The nonprofit has partnered with another local organization, the Fort Gordon Christmas House, to provide food for active-duty military servicemembers and their families.
ABD previously ran a story about two local businesses, Elevate Auto Lab and Riley’s Paint + Body that donated 27 children’s bikes to the Christmas House. Each Christmas, the non-profit organization allows military families and their children to choose toys and books. This year, it served 672 children from 372 families.
Besides Christmas presents, servicemembers with the rank of E6 or below also receive boxes of food, including turkeys, for the holidays, thanks to Golden Harvest.
“Fort Gordon Christmas House holds a special place in our hearts, and it’s important to us to support our military families,” Golden Harvest President and CEO, Amy Breitmann said. “These are the real heroes on the front lines, and we want to make sure we do everything we can to show them our gratitude and appreciation.”
The Christmas House was founded in 1966 by nurses working at Fort Gordon. At that time, the organization provided teddy bears to children of deployed servicemembers for Christmas.
“The partnership between Golden Harvest and the Fort Gordon Christmas House is simply magical,” said the charity’s advisor, Naomi Stanton. “To be able to provide our soldiers and their families with everything needed for a very happy holiday season is priceless.”
Feeding America estimates that about 160,000 servicemembers nationwide are dealing with food insecurity.
