Army Strong

The Few. The Proud.

Aim High ... Fly-Fight-Win

A Global Force For Good

Always Ready

There's a good chance that you may recognize a few of these slogans. They each represent a branch of the U.S. Military. Personally, I have never served as a member of the Armed Forces, but I have many close friends and family members that are either retired, or are actively serving today. Whether as active duty with one of the Military Branches, or as a member of the Guard or Reserve units, each member of our Armed Forces displays immense dedication and commitment. Behind each and every man and woman in uniform, there is a family who is serving and sacrificing as well. I wanted to utilize this blog post to introduce a cause that I support, and one that I think exemplifies the greatness of the American people.

America cares deeply for her service members and their families, and to show our continued support, the First Lady and Dr. Biden have launched the Joining Forces Community Challenge. The Joining Forces Community Challenge is a national initiative to recognize citizens and organizations throughout the country that are making a difference in the lives of military families. Now, just as service members and their families are serving us, we, the American people, would like to serve them.

The First Lady and Dr. Biden are looking for those who are passionate about having a positive lasting impact on the lives of military families. This is a call to all sectors of our society- citizens, communities, schools, nonprofits, faith-based institutions, philanthropic organizations, and government- if you have that desire to help military families and are doing something about it; they want to hear from you!

You might be asking yourself, "What exactly is this Joining Forces Community Challenge looking for?" Or maybe you would just like to read a bit more about the challenge. To find out everything you need to know, check out the Joining Forces Community Challenge website. You can see video clips and various other media by going to the Joining Forces Facebook page.

As Dr. Biden shared at a Joining Forces event in New Hampshire, "We are really excited about this program and hope you will go to our website to learn how you can nominate a group or an individual who has come up with a creative or innovative way to make life a little easier for our military families. The idea can be large or small, new or old, as long as it demonstrates in some way the tremendous gratitude all of us feel for our military families."

So if you, or anyone you know, is currently doing something meaningful to help military families, be sure to check out the website and let the First Lady and Dr. Biden know all about it. If you don't know anyone who is currently helping military families in this capacity, you can still join others, such as Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards, The Washington Nationals, and many more in showing your support for our military families.

To those who have served or are currently serving- THANK YOU!!