Are you entering into the New Year with aspirations and goals? If self-fulfillment and improvement is your theme for 2025, we’ve got a great resolution for you: to volunteer! Volunteering is fun, fulfilling, and a great way to spend your off time. And who better to serve than those who serve (or have served) this country day in and day out: Service Members and Veterans!

Want to get involved and not sure where to start? Here’s a beginner-friendly guide to getting involved with Soldiers’ Angels as an Angel volunteer.

Support Deployed Service Members

Soldiers’ Angels has thousands of “Virtual Angels” who support deployed Service Members in a variety of ways. These volunteer opportunities vary but can all be done virtually, meaning there is no need to be in person to volunteer. As a Virtual Angel, the goal is simple: send supplies, encouragement, and comfort overseas to deployed Service Members.

Deployed support opportunities include:

• Letter Writing: You can choose to send letters daily, weekly, or monthly.
• Deployed Adoption: “Adopt” a Service Member by sending one care package per month and one letter per week throughout their deployment.
• Baking: Send baked goods (homemade or store-bought).
• Care package campaigns: Twice a year, we hold care package campaigns for anyone to participate in: MLK Day of Service and Go Camo
• Support Military Working Dogs: Send care packages to support Military Working Dogs.
• Warm Feet for Warriors: Send socks or host a sock drive to collect socks for Service Members overseas (socks are the #1 most requested item!).
• Treats for Troops: Donate that extra Halloween candy and we’ll ship it overseas to Service Members (it also goes to Veterans at the VA Hospitals).
• Holiday Stockings for Heroes: Help us brighten the holidays for Service Members by sending them stuffing stockings full of goodies. This is a holiday campaign, and stuffed stockings also support Veterans at the VA Hospital.

Get started by registering as a volunteer and then getting verified through one of two ways:

1. A third-party background check company called Verified First.*
2. Set up a one-time or recurring donation using a credit card. The donation amount can be as little as $1! (a simpler and faster way for us to verify that you are not signing up under an alias).

We require all volunteers to get verified because we share sensitive information like Service Member names, deployed location addresses, and other details. Ensuring that everyone is not using aliases protects our Service Members and allows us to remove volunteers from the database if they are acting inappropriately. Learn more about the registration process here.

Support Veterans

Soldiers’ Angels is one of the few organizations permitted to work within the VA Hospital System. Because we hold that status, we are able to do all kinds of things to support Veteran patients at VA Hospitals across the country. While many of our Veteran Support programs are in person, some of our volunteer opportunities are virtual! Here’s a look at the ways you can support Veterans locally or from miles away.

• Military and Veteran Food Distributions: Volunteer to feed Veterans by joining us for an event in one of six cities: Atlanta, Charleston, Dallas, Denver, Orlando, or San Antonio
• VA patient visits: Join as an Angel volunteer and help brighten the day of a hospitalized Veteran by visiting their room and offering them comfort
• VA Hospital events: Across the country, VA Hospital Reps host luncheons, dinners, run the morning coffee cart, and hand out seasonal items. Join as a volunteer to see opportunities in your area.
• Valentines for Veterans: Send love to troops and Veterans for Valentine’s Day by sending Valentine’s Day cards with words of encouragement. This opportunity is for anyone interested, with no requirements to register as a volunteer.
• Operation Warm Winter: In preparation for the winter months, we collect blankets, jackets, hats, and gloves to send to at-risk or homeless Veterans in need
• Write Cards of Support: We send cards to Veterans who are celebrating Birthdays, have never been thanked for their service, need some words of encouragement, or are attending upcoming Honor Flights. As a registered Angel Volunteer, you can go into the support opportunities to see who could use some snail mail.

Many of our previously mentioned Special Campaigns also support Veterans, for example, Holiday Stockings for Heroes, Warm Feet for Warriors, and Treats for Troops. These campaigns are designed to support specific needs throughout the year and/or re-up our warehouse supplies for future shipments. View our Special Campaigns here.

Support Military families

Supporting Service Members and Veterans means supporting their families as well. If this is an area of interest for you, there are plenty of volunteer opportunities that await you!

• Virtual Baby Showers: Send baby items to expectant Military families or attend a drive-through baby shower at a VA Hospital near you
• Caregiver Support: Support female Caregivers of wounded Service Members and Veterans by sending “Blessing Boxes” (caregiver-focused care packages) and cards of support
• Adopt-A-Family: Adopt a Military family during the holidays to help with their holiday meal and provide gifts for the children

All of these opportunities require registration as an Angel volunteer. Get started here.

Company Volunteer Opportunities

We have lots of opportunities to make an impact as a business, organization, or corporation. As they say, many hands make light work – and we can use as many as we can get! Here are just a few ways businesses can get involved.

• Volunteer as a team at one of our Military & Veteran Food Distributions
• Create a collection drive at your office for any of our Special Campaigns
• Host or sponsor a Veteran luncheon in your area (limited to the areas we serve)
• Bring your team out to our warehouse in San Antonio to help pack or organize supplies

We’re also happy to create Corporate Engagement volunteer opportunities that will teach your team about the needs of the Military and Veteran community, challenges faced by those communities, and inspiring ways they can get involved. Learn more about corporate engagement opportunities here.

There are so many ways to get involved in the New Year, which one will you choose? The first step is to register as an Angel volunteer.

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