A heartfelt thank you note from the We Care committee;

You, our members in all segments, Vendors, Contractors, Operators, Clients, as well as family members, friends, and relatives, deserve a tremendous round of applause. The Fall Campaign for We Care, which was in honor of Veteran’s Day, was a roaring success.

Together, you sent 774 “Boxes of Home” to active duty, deployed military members across the globe. What started in Tucson, AZ during our National Conference, our Vendor Community aided the Family Readiness Center at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base with pallets of goods. We sent multiple boxes to a forward Expeditionary Base in Africa. Our reach in this campaign went as far as bases in Cuba, Africa, Jordan, UAE, Djibouti, Saudi Arabia, undisclosed locations in The Middle East and Souda Bay.

The energy, love, and support on display at special gatherings to shop for goodies, build boxes, write thank you notes, and address labels was Above and Beyond execution. Managers and employees from Aramark, Compass, Eurest, Canteen, Sodexo, SnapChef and Benchmark Strategies were incredible, as were the aunts, uncles, brothers, cousins and children of our SHFM Family. And how about Marti Gorum’s Army of Patriots, Friends and Family, a group that not only keeps on giving, but keeps on growing as well.

We also know that many of our benefactors are not current members of SHFM, we thank them graciously. Since they probably will not have access to this note, please feel free to send it to your friends so we can acknowledge their kindness.

We’ve heard from a few of the recipients, and they are truly appreciative of your kindness. Imagine how difficult it is to be thousands of miles from home, (some of these deployed have no family support,) in a stressful geo-political environment, on constant alert status, in some climates and austere locations that are much less than desirable.

Our POC at Prince Sultan Air Base wrote, “I know Airmen have received your Care Packages, and all I can say is our folks appreciate the packages and your team’s generosity. Being deployed over the holidays is never easy, but we are committed to the missions we were called to perform. Thanks again for everything and Merry Christmas! Our members are incredibly grateful, so am I!" - Erin Chaney, CMSgt, USAF, Senior Enlisted Leader, Prince Sultan Air Base, Kingdom Saudi Arabia

We’ll be gearing up for our May Military Appreciation Month Campaign in a few months and hope we can spread the news about the program to newer members and companies that may like to engage. It’s fun, it’s incredibly rewarding, and it’s the least we can do for our defenders!

If you’d like to know how you can help, please reach out to any of the committee members below.

Jeanine Cosgrove-Albert
Sumi DeBenedittis
Marti Gorum
Mike Johnston
Emily Kaszuba
Kelly Meadows
Ricky Postiglione
Steve Orlando
Matthew Rigney
Bradley Silverstein
Todd Snopkowski
Bernadette Ventura
Ellen Wilson
Jessica Zucker

For our new members...Just what is We Care?

We know many of our members would like to send a “box of home” to deployed service members, busily defending our freedoms in foreign lands but just may not know how. We help you with the “how to”, the name and address of the soldier, airman, or troop, the instructions and suggestions for the box contents.
It’s a tremendous thank you and lift me up when you include a brief note of thanks for their service and sacrifice, all for us!!

Thank you all,

We Care Committee of SHFM