About Us

Since our son serves in the U.S. Army and is stationed a great distance from home, we know his longing to see his family. Our family is a tight knit group with six kids. The siblings of our soldier miss him as deeply as he longs to be with them. We love America and we all are so proud of our son's service. When we spoke with him on the phone we knew by the sound of his voice he was hoping to be home for Christmas but was unsure if the dream would come true. During the fall of 2014, we wanted to see our son home for Christmas. He didn't know if he would receive "leave", but he prayed and hoped it could happen. We could tell that he not only wanted to be home, he needed to be home to see the faces of those who drive his reason to serve.

Justin was able to come home for Christmas that year. Being stationed in Alaska his travel was extremely expensive.  He was able to get home with the financial help of family members.

The next year our son was home for Thanksgiving 2015 leave. We made sure he could be home to celebrate with his family. During his time at home, we asked him, “How many enlisted soldiers, that you are stationed with, who receive a Holiday leave, can actually afford to go home?”  His answer was quite surprising and moving, “Very few.”

This is the reason for Operation H.O.M.E.
(Helping Our Military’s Enlisted)

 After that conversation, we began to realize many of our brave young enlisted soldiers cannot afford to travel home to see their families. Getting the opportunity for "leave" is not the problem. The meager pay our enlisted service people receive does not permit many to save enough to buy tickets home.  We asked ourselves, "How can we help those who cannot afford to get home during the holidays?" (For many of the military personnel who have not seen family in several years a trip home is a therapeutic and restorative time that boost troop morale.)

We decided on December 11, 2015 to try meeting as many needs as possible. We founded Operation H.O.M.E with the goal of Helping Our Military's Enlisted get home for Christmas. We contacted friends, family and business associates to ask for help. God used a small group of people to donate over $13,000 in just 12 days. Operation H.O.M.E. worked with the assistance of Army Chaplains to find 10 deserving soldiers and funded their trips home.

The service member had to meet one of the following two criteria:

1. They had not seen their family in two years.

2. They were facing some extenuating circumstances.

Stories

Here are just a few of the many stories showing the difference you've made in the lives of our soldiers.

How it Works

Operation: H.O.M.E has been set up as a nonprofit 501c3 allowing donations to be tax deductible. Your Donations will go to pay the cost of sending a soldier home for the Holidays.

In 2015 we based the cost of getting these Soldiers home by comparing what it cost for our Army son ($1,600) to come home for Christmas 2014. During the year 2015 the cost per soldier averaged $1,200. That year we had donations ranging $500-$3,600. The 2015 recipients flew home to their homes all across the country from California to Connecticut to Florida and to states in the middle of the map. As per our name, Helping Our Military Enlisted, our first goal is to help the enlisted soldiers because of their pay grade. However, we will help those soldiers with serious needs when we can.  We started with helping soldiers at the Alaska base we were familiar with but hope to extend the help to other bases and other military branches.

In 2022our average cost to send a soldier home was $1,900.00

Please consider sponsoring a single soldier at $2,000.00
Or give whatever gift you can. We will work with different military bases and take care of booking the trip for each soldier in need.

Our goal for Christmas 2023 is to raise $200,000.00 to cover the cost for getting 100 soldiers home. If these individuals do not get home for Christmas they likely will be stuck on their respective military base unless someone is willing to give them a great Christmas gift.

Time is short. A soldier needs to get home. Please give today!

The past two years, the soldiers have benefited from the generous gifts of Americans who do not know them but who want to recognize their service and sacrifice.

Would you consider joining our Mission to give soldiers the gift of being home?

On behalf of this year’s recipients, THANK YOU!

Donate

Our goal for 2024 is to raise $200,000 to send 100 soldiers home. Every dollar makes a difference.

Contact Operation H.O.M.E.