Success StoryVeteran Christmas Boxes Reach A New Audience



Veteran Christmas Boxes Reach A New Audience

Author: Morgan Murphy

Planning Unit: Elliott County CES

Major Program: Build Engaged and Empowered Communities – General

Plan of Work: Volunteerism

Outcome: Initial Outcome

In 2022, we installed a new FCS council. I sat down with the new council members to talk with them about needs we could meet through family consumer sciences programming in our community. One of the needs brought up was more programs for our veterans. For thanksgiving, the Laurel Gorge Heritage Center hosted a special lunch for veterans and recognized them for their service. After seeing the success of our partners at the Laurel Gorge with their veterans event, we decided to do something similar and make Christmas boxes for the veterans that were in need. We talked with our community partner Christy at the Laurel Gorge Heritage Center and she was able to give us the list of veterans that were in need of some extra food for the holiday season as well as their contact information. We were able to get our extra 4-H country hams sliced to put in the Christmas boxes along with canned food items (peas, corn, etc) we had leftover from our food drop program. We also put a box of stuffing, cake mix and frosting, and a card from our office thanking them for their service. Included in the box was extension publication ASC-213 "How to Prepare a Country Ham" which includes how the veterans could prepare their ham slices if they needed some ideas. Since we were able to use our extra 4-H country hams and canned goods from our food drop program, we were able to do this program with minimal expense. With this program we were able to help 17 veterans in our community as well as reach an audience we haven't previously. We now hope to do the Christmas boxes for the veterans every year. 






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