I know that this is a search marketing blog and you are expecting to read about SEO, PPC, Social Media etc., but you are the perfect audience to help spread the word and perhaps as a community we could create a movement to give back to the returning soldiers, our veterans and military families that have served this country for so long. Whatever your political beliefs are, I know that you support the soldiers that fight to keep you and your families safe day after day. I know you appreciate the sacrifices their families make as well.
Photo by Lance McNatt at DFW Airport
Many spouses and partners have been maintaining the home-front alone for a long time. Many have lost loved ones and need as much emotional and financial support as possible. You don’t have to give money to be supportive; just doing something for someone else is often more helpful than you would think.
We are going to post a list of things you can do to give back to soldiers, vets and their families this holiday season (and we hope beyond the season). We would love your ideas as well and we will add good ideas from the comments below.
To Our Fellow SEO’s, Search Marketers, PPC Experts and Bloggers
We ask that you help us spread the word. If our readers and your readers all decided to give back we could help a lot of military families this holiday season. Please mention this idea on your blog/site, share, Tweet, + and Like.
Who You Can Contact
We want to give you some ideas for finding soldiers and veterans in your area to give back to (if you have additional resources please let us know). The Department of Veterans Affairs offers a map where you can find local offices to contact. Call your local office and let them know what you are looking to do and ask them if there is a soldier or family you can help.
Other contact ideas:
Photo by Lance McNatt DFW Nov 2011
- Military Base Support Groups
- Any Soldier
- Local Support Groups
- Local Churches
- Injured Marine Fund
- SaluteHeroes.org
- Twitter- Army, USMC, Navy, Air Force, USCG, National Guard.
Ways to Give Back
- Give up your first class seat to a soldier
- Build a free website for a veteran
- Buy their family a complete holiday/ Christmas dinner or cook it for them
- Offer gifts to their children
- Decorate their home for the holidays / Christmas
- Get the family gift cards
- Welcome soldiers coming back at airports and military bases
- Offer to babysit their kids and let a soldier go on a date with their partner
- Offer to pay for a therapy dog
- If you see a soldier eating out, buy their meal
- Ask a soldier what they need and find a way to get it for them
- Buy a laptop for a wounded soldier
- Wash their car, mow their lawn, take out their trash cans…anything is appreciated
- By a wholesale club or AAA membership for a military family
- Pay for a family portrait
- Take a soldier shopping for a new wardrobe
- Hire a veteran
Organizations You Can Support
- Wounded Warrior Project
- Give to the Freedom Alliance Scholarship Fund – Money for the children of soldiers to go to college
- Operation First Response – assist the wounded military and their families with personal and financial needs
- Donate to the Semper Fi Fund – helps Marines, sailors, and their families meet their financial needs during difficult times
- Give 2 the Troops – Care packages go to deployed soldiers
- Donate to the Armed Forces YMCA
- Adopt a Platoon
Search Engine Journal Wants to Say Thank You to Our Troops, Veterans and Military Families
Photo by Lance McNatt at DFW Airport Nov 2011
We know that without you we would not have our homes, our businesses, a safe place for our children to grow and all the other things we take for granted. There is no thank you big enough, but we are going to try and get people to remember you this holiday season. Happy Holidays, May God bless you and thank you!!
Melissa Fach
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A big Hooah for Melissa reaching out to our brothers and sisters in arms. Much Respect.
Thanks for this great post, Melissa! As a veteran from a family of veterans, I especially appreciate it. :-)
Here’s another site people can use to send care packages to troops: http://anysoldier.com. On both this one and the give2thetroops one you listed, they also request items for the dogs who work in K-9 units. Let’s not forget about them! Thanks again.
Thank you Chris and Michelle.
I think a lot of people take for granted the fact that they live their life and America is just magically there. Without the military and police departments we would live in a war zone. We all owe the military big time.
Melissa, I am a vet from waaaaay back in the day :) and I thank you for remembering our women and men warriors who have given up so much – in some cases, EVERYTHING.
Here in the Washington DC area, we have many, many vets coming back, and I’m happy to say they are treated with the dignity and respect they deserve. Many thanks for doing a blog post completely unrelated to SEO!
Thank you, Nancy. I know so many of given up so much and we need to keep that in mind everyday.
I know this is an SEO blog, but sometimes you have to step back from the tech and remember the “real” that surrounds you.
Great post! As a Veteran owned and operated business we certainly have a heart for our Veterans. These guys give up their lives for our comfort and freedom. Doing these things like giving up a seat or building a website is the least we can do for these guys. Thanks again for posting this and please let us know if there’s anything we can do to help!
Jordan Bourland
SEO Manager
Medals of America
Thank you very much, Jordan. I will :-)
Thank you for this post! I will indeed share it with my church, as well as on my own websites, and among my family and friends.
I just tried sharing this link on Facebook, and unfortunately, your og:image tag only displays your website logo — not the photo(s) from your posts. This post would generate a lot more interest and attention if your og:image tag would share the military family photos as the thumbnails on Facebook. Unfortunately, I think a large number of my FB followers will probably unintentionally dismiss this link because the thumbnail looks like a corporate logo instead of a thumbnail that conveys this post’s emotional message.
Apologies. Shocker — Facebook must have been behaving wonky, because I can now share your post with thumbnails of the families.