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| Thank you military families! |
This Christmas, we set out to make the holidays brighter for 19 military families at Fisher House. It's like the famous Ronald McDonald House, but Fisher House Hawaii takes care of our US military families. They will house the families of sick, injured or wounded soldiers and veterans and they are ALWAYS full! Right now there is a 35 family waiting list, to get in! At Fisher House, they believe that "families are good medicine" and we learned that same lesson when our mom went through cancer treatment.
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| The BEST pumpkin cookie recipe EVER is on page 93 of Special Delivery |
So this Christmas, my family and friends and I set out to raise money for Christmas presents for the families staying there, most of whom are far away from their homes! We spend our weekends having bake sales, collecting supplies and selling a cookbook called, "Special Delivery" that we made.
A
few months ago, I saw for the first time a scene that I know plays out regularly with our military families. I was sitting with my classmate, Riley, at Trinity
Lutheran School. A soldier quietly entered the classroom and tapped my unsuspecting friend on the
back. As Riley turned around, she
screamed with excitement because it was her dad, home from a year of deployment in
Afghanistan. Tears rolled down her face, and soon I was in a
puddle of tears as well. It must be really hard being apart for so long, and especially not knowing if your mom or dad is safe. I am so lucky
to have friends like Riley, who’s families are willing to sacrifice in so many
ways to keep our country safe.
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| Carly, Jack, Emma, Morgan & Me |
That
moment in class made me want to do something special to recognize the special sacrifices our military families make. That's when we found out about the Fisher House at Tripler Hospital, and that's when we came up with: “Operation Holiday Heroes.” So, I had a meeting of Dream of a Better World and we decided to mobilized our own small army of friends and neighbors
to collect nearly 100 Christmas bags and gifts. We also plan to surprise Theresa Johnson, Manager of Fisher
House Hawaii, with a check for all the donations we’ve collected.
If you'd like to also help make these military families in need, you can make a tax-deductible donation or buy "Special Delivery - Supporting Our Troops EDITION" cookbooks at our web-site:
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| Daniel Ward of Hawaiian Chariots stopped by! |
Fisher
House Hawaii is one of 58 locations worldwide supporting America’s military in
their time of need. Annually, the
Fisher House program serves more than 17,000 families, and have made available
over four million days of lodging to family members since the program
originated in 1990. Fisher
Houses are funded by public donations and operated by the Department of
Veterans Affairs on behalf of the Army, Navy and Air Force. No family pays to stay at any Fisher
House.
You can also donate to Tripler
Fisher House by mailing donations to: Tripler Fisher
Houses, 317 Krukowski Rd., Honolulu, HI 96819.
