Armed Forces Day

May 16th is National Armed Forces Day and a wonderful day to decide to do a little "something extra" for the brave men and women who serve our country. Believe it or not, charity can be quite frugal and still very meaningful. Here are some ideas and wonderful programs to help you thank a soldier:

To honor active US military personnel, Adopt A US Soldier is a volunteer-based organization that connects supportive Americans with deployed soldiers and offers a channel by which to communicate encouragement and express gratitude to the brave men and women serving our nation. For more information, click HERE.

This site is dedicated to helping those who desire to support the wounded, injured, and ill troops at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and Bethesda Naval Hospital. Our efforts will coordinate the receipt of care packages sent to the hospitalized troops. For more information, click HERE.

Adopt A Platoon is another site you can use to send packages and encouraging mail to our troops. For more information, click HERE.

Here's an idea that I have used in the past when adopting soldiers: Keep a shipping box near where you go through your mail. When all of those freebies and samples get to your house ~ into the box they go! Add a few items you got free with coupons (gum, toothpaste, etc) and when the box is full, mail it off. Keep the receipt for the postage and at tax time, write it off for charity purposes. It's a win-win situation!

So please, no matter how big or how small, pay tribute to our military personnel today. (They can always use your prayers, and they're free).