Bring Joy and Cheer to Our Troops this Holiday Season - YMCA OC Stockings for the Troop

ORANGE COUNTY, Calif. - Nov. 13, 2013 - PRLog -- The YMCA of Orange County is partnering with Words of Comfort, Hope and Promise (a non-profit organization 501(c)(3) serving those in the U.S. Armed Forces and their families), Cub Scout Pack 290, Hot Yoga, and Starbucks stores in the Huntington Beach area to bring some Christmas joy to our military families. The holiday season can be an especially difficult time for our troops overseas, so with the help and support of the community, the YMCAOC is running their annual Stocking for the Troops service learning project to collect as many donations as possible to send to the troops this Christmas season!

Jasmina Muller, a member of the Parent Advisory Council at Peterson Elementary, started this tradition back in 2006 when her husband was deployed to the border in San Diego with the Border patrol agents. She wanted to provide him and other service members a nice Thanksgiving dinner since they were away from home and started Stockings for the Troops through donations. “Times have changed since we were little. These days a lot of kids expect to get things, rather than see what others need.  I have always taught my children, they have a roof over their head, they get dinner every night so they are lucky.  Imagine not having basic things in life and then imagine the service members, fighting for what we have, to have the freedom of just doing anything.  To stuff some stockings to give them ‘a little piece of home’….it’s priceless! I love watching the smiles and laughter that this service projects brings to the kids and our troops”.

Several YMCA Child Care sites will be collecting donations for the troops and making care packages to send oversees. Donations will be accepted from October 14^th to November 14^th.  Peterson Elementary School will host a stocking stuffing event Thursday, November 14th before the gifts are shipped off to the troops.

To see a list of items needed and picture of last year's Stocking for the troops, please visit www.ymcaoc.org/news.