Ideas for honoring military families

May 4, 10:57 AMNashville Military Families ExaminerSara Horn

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May is National Military Appreciation Month, a great time for remembering and honoring service members and their families for all they do to protect and serve our country.

Folks living in Nashville often associate military with the closest active post, Ft. Campbell, located north in Clarksville. But there are thousands of National Guard and Reservists who live in and around Music City with their families, as well as active military families who are in Middle Tennessee while their service members are deployed or serving on Independent Duty status (military recruiters are included in this group).

Here are some ways you can honor our military for all they do:

Pray for our military. One of the most important ways you can help our troops and their families every day is to pray. Ask God to watch over our military and help their loved ones back home.

Write a letter. There are several great organizations (see list below) that will connect you to a military service member if you do not already know someone. Write a letter and thank a service member for what he or she is doing.

Recognize military families in  your church. Whether they are going through deployments or are currently home, make a point to recognize these families so others in your church can also show their appreciation. List their names in the church bulletin, honor them during the service by asking them to stand, or ask one or two service members to open or close the service in prayer.

Offer to help a military family going through deployment. Look for ways to help a military family whose service member is deployed. Can you help with their yard? Babysitting? Wash their car? Make dinner? Be a buddy to a younger military kid?

Find a group and get involved!

Operation Homefront
This group supports military families back home.

Operation Shoebox
This group sends special shoebox-size care packages to the troops.

Adopt-a-Chaplain
This group supports the chaplains serving our military, who in turn, support our troops.

Project Prayer Flag
This group sends pocket-size flags and letters thanking our troops for their service.

Kids For Our Troops
This group has great ideas for kids on ways to support our military.

Hugs From Home
This group allows you the chance to adopt a deployed service member and write to them on a monthly basis.

A Million Thanks
An organization dedicated to showing appreciation to the troops through letters, emails, cards and prayers.

Do you know of a group or an event happening in Middle Tennessee supporting our military? Contact me with your news and I may include it in a future article.