Posted in Answer The Call, tagged gratitude quotes, Military Families, Operation Homefront, thank you quotes, veterans on October 20, 2016| Leave a Comment »
Your support means real impact on real military and veteran families across the United States. Today, we’d like to share some thanks from those families to all of YOU who have answered the call when YOU were needed the most:
If you are looking for a way to get involved in supporting our military families, we invite you to join our Answer the Call campaign.
Posted in Answer The Call, Uncategorized, tagged #AnswerTheCall, helping military families, Operation Homefront, SAIC on October 13, 2016| Leave a Comment »
Today we are joined by guest blogger Steven Mahon, SAIC EVP, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary. Steven talks about his call to service and the call to service by SAIC Citizens.
Thirty-seven years ago, I made the decision to join the United States Army. I was resolute, but as a young man, I lacked the foresight of all the challenges that laid ahead, especially those that would arise as a husband and father.
Although many years have passed, the challenges of being a service member remain, especially in today’s world where our troops are frequently deployed and tasked with difficult, demanding, and dangerous work. We ask our service members to devote themselves to their mission and their duty to serving our nation, and they unwaveringly accept. However, there is a price to pay to answer the call of the nation. By asking for 100 percent of their focus on the mission, their duties as parents and spouses can’t always be a primary focus.
Steven Mahon, SAIC EVP, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, and the SAIC Citizens at the Back-To-School Brigade event in Maryland.
Families are often geographically separated and this means that at times there never seems to be enough money for essentials like school supplies. As a young service member, I remember returning to the PX a modest birthday present I had purchased for my wife because we needed the cash for baby food and diapers instead — that was 28 years ago and I still remember how badly I felt about it.
I know that feeling reverberates throughout the Armed Forces, but organizations like SAIC and Operation Homefront are here to help. As an SAIC employee or “corporate citizen” as we say, my service to our country continues, most recently by volunteering with Operation Homefront as a member of its Board of Directors and by volunteering at events that build strong, stable and secure military families, such as distributing backpacks during their Back-To-School Brigade. Let’s face it, school supply shopping is stressful and expensive. Operation Homefront’s Back to School Brigade reduces that burden and financial hardship on military families by providing service members with pre-filled backpacks stuffed with commonly needed supplies. This reduces stress on families, frees up time, and saves a lot of money. For families with three, four, or more children, this is a big help!
My colleagues and I volunteered to stuff and hand deliver these backpacks to needy families, and we were thrilled to do it. The most rewarding sight was to see a young girl, dressed all in pink —including pink glasses — hugging her new pink backpack, with a huge smile on her face! We are proud to work for a company like SAIC that chooses to sponsor organizations like Operation Homefront because our support helps to reduce every day stresses on our military.
We at SAIC and Operation Homefront are honored to serve our military families by paying it forward, and we ask that you join us. Visit www.operationhomefront.net/answerthecall for ways to help support the families of our service members and wounded warriors. SAIC Citizens will be volunteering across the country during this upcoming holiday season, and we hope to see you there!
