Angel Stephanie has been a part of Soldiers’ Angels for several years. From sending cards to adopting service members, she has done a lot to support our troops and service members. But in 2016, she decided to get her whole family involved! On Thanksgiving Day, her family came together and stuffed stockings for Soldiers’ Angels to send to deployed service members and distribute to veterans in VA Hospitals.

Read on to hear about her experience with Soldiers’ Angels and how she inspired her family to give “Thanks” to our military.

How/when did you first hear about Soldiers’ Angels? Why did you join?

I believe I first joined Soldier’s Angels in 2013. As a member of our Chaffey College Classified Senate, I suggested we as a college adopt a soldier as one of our annual community service projects. Everyone agreed and we sent our service member a monthly care package. We had a lot of fun creating the packages as a group. We also did a card writing campaign (through the United Way organization) for Veterans Day. At the close of the adoption, I then continued on a sporadic basis doing the Cards Plus Program.

How did you find out about the Stocking program? What motivated you to make it a family project?

As I wasn’t able to participate as much in the last couple years, I wanted to get involved again and in October I found the stockings program on the website. I saw it last year, but was too late to participate so I made sure to look for it earlier this year. I spoke to my family and they were excited to participate so I signed us up as a Holiday Community Partner. I suggested we could make the stockings when we all got together at Thanksgiving. It would be a nice tribute of thanks to those who were unable to be with their families for the holidays.

Do you have any military service members or veterans in your life?

My father is a former Marine serving in the late 60s to early 70s during Vietnam. It was a difficult time then and so I was raised to appreciate the sacrifices and struggles many families face by choosing to serve our country. It’s also for that reason that I have a passion for supporting our military.

Your process for the stockings seems very organized by the photos! Can you tell me a bit about your assembly line process and your family event in general.

On Thanksgiving Day, our families decided to make a small assembly line on our Thanksgiving table with the kids. Some of us adults wrapped some of the gifts in wrapping paper the day prior. We first talked with the kids about why we were making the stockings and who they would be going to. We wanted to make sure they understood why we were thankful to our military. The dedication of our service members allowed our families to be together for the holidays even though they were not. We then had the kids stuff the stockings one by one with the items we laid out. They had a great time and ran out of stockings too fast. We all then signed cards of thanks that were included with each stocking. We really enjoyed the project and hope to be able to do more next year.  

The families that participated were: The Crow family (Len, Stephanie, and Cayley), the Green family (Scott, RaeAnn, Tristan, and Alayna) and the Hardy family (Paul, Cindy, Jacob, and Matthew)

Thank you to Soldier’s Angels for all that you do for our service members. We look forward to supporting again next year!

Thank YOU Stephanie and all of your family members for taking the time to give back to our service members and veterans!

The Holiday Stockings for Heroes Program is a great way to give back to our military during the holiday season. In 2016 Soldiers’ Angels partners donated over 13,000 stuffed stockings that were shipped to deployed service members or handed out to veterans in VA Hospitals. Learn more about the Soldiers’ Angels Holiday Stockings for Heroes Program here. 

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