Our Military Kids is extremely grateful to the Plexus Worldwide staff, Ambassadors, and customers for the overwhelming support provided to military families on Veterans Day. With the support of Plexus Ambassadors and customers, Plexus was able to contribute over $78,000.00 to Our Military Kids. This donation will help provide grants to 158 military kids to explore their passions and to minimize the emotional toll of their parents’ deployment or injury. Working with Plexus has be a pleasure. Their staff understands the Our Military Kids mission and believes in what we do. They have veterans, military spouses and military brats on staff who have experienced firsthand the benefits our program provides. They know the importance of extracurricular activities in the everyday life of growing children. We look forward to continuing our work with Plexus to help even more military kids in 2016 and beyond! This partnership can do great things and continue to help families in need. Together we can successfully impact the lives of military families across the country. Please take a moment to watch the thank you video from Our Military Kids Executive Director, Linda Davidson.

Baseball and Dance are two of our most common grant activities. For many of our families, like Marcia’s, these opportunities are more than just ways to keep their kids busy. They are opportunities for children to grow socially and emotionally. Marcia is a wife and mother. Her husband, an Army veteran, has been diagnosed with TBI and PTSD; because of these injuries, he has been unable to maintain a steady job. Financially, Marcia would have been unable to enroll her children in activities such as baseball and dance. Luckily, since 2013, Our Military Kids has been able to ease the family’s financial stress and sponsor these wonderful kids. Aubrey is 10 and Blake is 7. Both have been enjoying their activities and are growing socially. Blake is a selective mute with ADHD. Since starting baseball he has come out of his shell and is making new friends. Aubrey has won dance scholarships to continue growing as a dancer. Both children have completely changed as a result of the Our Military Kids grants. “Our Military Kids has been wonderful and impacted our family in great ways by letting our kids feel normal and enjoy activities they love with their friends,” Marcia said “They also relieve a lot of stress for me and my husband as the grants help pay for the activities that we wouldn’t be able to afford.”

Since 2010 Our Military Kids has been involved in finding donors to “adopt” wounded warrior families whose children have received grants from Our Military Kids. These families frequently are in need of assistance due to the financial hardship related to caring for the wounded military family member. We reach out to organizations and individuals who have expressed an interest in helping these families with Christmas and other holiday gifts, sometimes including meals and Christmas trees. This year we have received requests from 118 wounded warrior families consisting of 293 children to participate in the OMK Christmas Gift Program. Donors are asked to provide gifts of $150 per child to the families of our nation’s wounded warriors. If you or your organization would like to adopt a wounded warrior family of from one to eight children this holiday season we will provide you with their contact information and ask you to contact them directly regarding their children’s wish list. We ask that you please provide the gifts to the family no later than December 10, 2015. Thank you in advance for your generosity and for your support of our nation’s wounded warrior families.

In this season of thanksgiving, we would like to take a moment to share our gratitude for the many gifts we have received this month and throughout the year. We continue to benefit from the generosity of our donors who can choose to give their money to countless organizations but who continue to choose us. Thanks to these donors, we were able to give out almost $124,000 this month to 291 children across 44 states and Puerto Rico. So far this year we have given out 3,297 grants, which puts us on pace to give out even more grants than we did last year. We would like to recognize AT&T and Lockheed Martin who provided extra funding for STEM grants. AT&T pioneered this program back in July.  The children were so excited at this opportunity that, for the first time ever, STEM activities were the month’s most popular activity. These activities give children the opportunity to explore the worlds of science, technology, engineering and math through programs like robotics, computer programming, Lego camps and space camps. The hope is to introduce and support children’s interest in these areas with the potential for them to pursue these fields in higher education and eventually in their careers. In addition to the 56 STEM grants we distributed, the most popular activities in November were dance, martial arts and gymnastics. As the winter approaches, we are receiving more and more applications for winter sports such as skiing, snowboarding, ice skating and hockey. We are especially thankful for the kids and families of Our Military Kids. It is our great joy to recognize these families for all that they do. Our sincerest gratitude to the entire Our Military Kids family- the staff, volunteers, donors, kids and families.