All Americans craved, hoped, and prayed for a return to normalcy during the 2021 calendar year. As much as we desired the return to the old normal, it just did not happen. Some of the same challenges we faced in 2020 lingered as we tried to raise money and identify those who needed help getting home to see their family. In addition to those challenges, Operation:H.O.M.E. dealt with more cancelled flights that made scheduling more difficult as well as drove prices higher and higher on a daily basis. At Operation:H.O.M.E we also began to deal with a situation we had not considered before...the change in orders that relocated military chaplains we worked with on each base. When a chaplain is transferred, his replacement may have no idea what Operation:H.O.M.E. has been doing on their respective bases. Therefore, we must introduce ourselves to the new chaplains and let them know what we do to serve the military service members who need our help. The new chaplains we meet are incredibly grateful for our supporters and the fact Operation:H.O.M.E. directs our funding to those who truly need the help. However, it takes a lot of time to educate the chaplains to what we are about, and they have regulations they must clarify for their protection.
During the 2021 CHRISTmas season Operation:H.O.M.E. assisted thirty-seven service members in their quest to get home to see family. We again received far more nominations than we could fund. We vetted all the nominees and sent home those most in need and what we could cover. We helped ten individuals who had not been home in 2 years or more. We sent home those who needed to see parents who are terminally ill. We helped those, whose children were desperate to see their parent serving our country.
We would like to thank all our supporters who help us each year. Operation:H.O.M.E. could not make the dreams come true for these military members, were it not for our donors. In 2021 a grieving family who lost their military son, in an auto accident, chose to honor him by holding a memorial event and donated a significant amount of the funds raised to Operation:H.O.M.E. to help others get home for CHRISTmas. Associated with that same contribution we received a corporate donation from the corporate office of a grocery store chain from the western U.S., named SPROUTS FARMERS MARKET. A husband and wife from NJ, contacted Operation:H.O.M.E. about helping us financially…they met with their friends and neighbors and collected donations totaling $20,000. Even with those incredible stories we still were extremely tight budgeted in 2021 because of economic issues facing people around the country.
One last point from 2021…Last August during the withdrawal from Afghanistan, thirteen of America’s finest lost their lives serving other. Just as is normal, American military members, who were on the frontlines helping others, not always just Americans, lost their lives in service of other humans. These men and women are GREAT AMERICANS. We at Operation:H.O.M.E. made the decision to honor all thirteen individuals on “The Wall of Honor” on this website.
Please remember: “It has always been the Soldier, on land, in air and at sea, who has paid the price that buys American Freedoms!”
WE USE SOLDIER AS A GENERIC TERM. WE KNOW THAT THOSE IN THE USMC WISH TO BE CALLED “MARINE”, THOSE SERVING IN THE USN ARE A “SAILOR”, ANYONE DEFENDING IN THE USAF IS “AIRMAN” AND THE INDIVIDUALS IN THE USARMY WISHES TO BE CALLED “SOLDIER”. THAT SAID, WE MEAN NO DISRESPECT IN USING THE TERM SOLDIER GENERICALLY. WE RESPECT ALL WHO SERVE. THEY ARE ALL GREAT AMERICANS.
