[Nords note: I donate all of my writing revenue to military-friendly charities, including Fisher House Foundation. Please consider them for your giving plans.]
So, this is my first ever blog post of any kind so take it easy on the new kid. I currently work for a web-based company that was looking for a great charity to partner with and give back. Since I drew the short straw it became my job to find one and I went right to work.
It wasn’t hard for me to determine what area of charitable giving I was going to lean towards. My dad, uncle, brother and sister-in-law all serve/served in the military so this was a no brainer. The question was, which one to choose? There are so many great charities out there that serve our nation’s military that narrowing it down can be mind-numbing. However, after several days of research, emails and phone calls, I found the perfect fit!
At this point, if you haven’t already figured it out based on the title of my post, I’ll tell you: I went with Fisher House Foundation.
There are many reasons that Fisher House won out: they have a great organization of people that are a pleasure to work with, they have received a 4 star rating from Charity Navigator 12 years in a row – I mean, if you’re going to ask people to give money, they want to know it’s being handled wisely – but, most importantly, they have some amazing programs! What programs do you ask? Well, scroll down my friend for even more information.
Comfort Homes
Fisher House Foundation is a charitable organization that provides “a home away from home” for military and veterans’ families while their loved one receives medical care at major military and VA medical centers. The homes provide free temporary lodging so military and Veterans families can be close to their loved ones during a medical crisis. Fisher Houses are normally located within walking distance of the treatment facility it serves, and is provided at no cost to the families. Since the average length of stay can range from 10 days to 60 days, depending on the seriousness of the illness or wounds, the savings are tremendous.
The Best Medicine
Fisher House Foundation believes that the best medicine for a wounded or ill service member is to be close with their loved ones during their time of need. It is this commitment to service that has made Fisher House so successful.
Not only do they offer comfort homes for families but they also have a program called Hero Miles, which allows donated frequent flyer miles to be used to bring family members together. To date, Fisher House Foundation has provided more than 58,000 tickets to wounded, injured and ill service members and their families.
Hotels For Heroes
Although there are currently 66 Fisher Houses located on 24 military installations and 24 VA Medical Centers throughout the US and in Europe, sometimes a service member is being treated where there is no Fisher House. It is for this reason that Fisher House Foundation has another program called Hotels for Heroes. Similar to the comfort homes that Fisher House provides, this program provides hotel rooms to the families of the service members. These rooms are made possible through the donation of rewards points by the hotels rewards members.
More Great Reasons to Get Involved
Not only does Fisher House Foundation provide travel and housing to service members in their time of need, they also support some great scholarship programs such as: Heroes’ Legacy Scholarships, Scholarships for Military Children and Scholarships for Military Spouses.
“Fisher House Foundation has been serving military, Veterans and their families for 25 years,” said Dave Coker, president of Fisher House Foundation. “But we don’t do it alone. We depend on partners like The Plan Collection to help us build awareness and homes.”
Since its inception in 1990, by Zachary and Elizabeth Fisher, the Fisher House program has served more than 250,000 families with over 6 million days of lodging and a savings of more than $282 million for military families. If you’d like to help make a difference please visit their website at www.FisherHouse.org.
This article was submitted by Laurel Vernazza from ThePlanCollection.com
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