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Honoring Military Families: Ideas & Resources for Military Family Month · Talking FACS

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  Welcome to Talking FACS, what you need to know about family,
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  food, finance, and fitness.
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  This nationally recognized award-winning podcast is hosted by the University
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  of Kentucky Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Program.
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  Our educators share research knowledge with individuals, families,
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  and communities to improve quality of life.
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  There are approximately 1.3 million active duty military service members in the United States.
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  There are an additional 765,000 members in the National Guard and Reserve.
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  This brings the total active personnel to over 2 million.
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  The month of November is declared each year as Military Family Month.
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  You are listening to Talking Facts.
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  I am your host, Mindy McCauley, Extension Specialist for Instructional Support
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  with Family and Consumer Sciences Extension, and my guest is Dr.
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  Kerri Ashurst, our Senior Extension Specialist for Family and Relationship Development.
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  So we're going to talk today about the military family.
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  As we get started, will you tell us just a little bit about Military Family Month?
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  Absolutely, Mindy. Thanks for having me.
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  Obviously, military families are celebrated and honored throughout the year.
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  But the month of November is really a kind of special time for so many of us
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  that have the honor and privilege of working with military families.
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  There are a lot of focused and deliberate ways that military families are honored and recognized.
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  For their commitment and their contributions and support to our military and our nation.
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  And so just a few examples I can think of right off the top of my head are many
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  businesses that offer discounts out there to military families or communities
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  that host a lot of recognition events.
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  A lot of different communities across the United States even do things like
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  parades in conjunction with Veterans Day,
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  since it's also in November every year, or even people gathering items for care
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  packages to be able to send out as the holidays are coming up with Thanksgiving and Christmas.
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  I can remember when my children were in school, they wrote cards that went out
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  to the military members.
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  Usually during the month of November, they wrote those cards so that at least
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  they would get them during the holidays.
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  Yes, and I actually got to be the person that a lot of those cards went to at
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  one point in time in the past here in central Kentucky.
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  And I'll tell you what, there was nothing better in the whole world than reading
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  all of those cards that came in from kids from school systems and other places.
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  Lots and lots of fun. What are some ideas that communities could use for specific
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  recognition for Military Family Month?
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  Oh, there are so many. Let me think. There's a lot of different great ideas
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  for ways you can support and recognize military families in your community.
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  First and foremost, just simply showing your gratitude like you said,
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  like making cards for a care package or getting them to a person or organization
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  in your community that sends out care packages.
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  I'll provide a little more information about that in a minute too.
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  Sometimes it can be just things like flying the colors, flying the flag.
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  For example, I have extended family that are both Army and Marine.
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  And so I fly even little garden flags and things for the month of November to
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  show my support to military families, especially my own extended family.
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  And I even put things on social media oftentimes that can help spread awareness
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  and messages. simple things that have to do with just simply honoring military
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  families and using hashtags to be able to find those easily like hashtag military family month.
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  Right. Well, there's, of course, lots of different things that people can do
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  with planning and attending community events of all different kinds where you
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  can recognize or provide a gift or anything to military families that are in your community.
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  Or it can be even as simple as asking those in an audience at a community gathering,
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  a sporting event, a church event, whatever it might be,
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  to stand and be recognized at something for those who have served in the military
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  or who are a part of a military family.
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  And then I mentioned it before, but it definitely bears repeating,
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  encouraging local businesses to advertise something such as a discount or a
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  free item they might be offering in the month of November.
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  And some examples I can think of would be things like a bowling alley offering
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  free games or a free shoe rental to a military family or a discount that a local
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  restaurant might offer or a free meal or something like that.
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  And then finally, just practical help. You know, if there's a military family
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  that you know in your community, maybe offer a night of free babysitting or
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  offer to help with some yard work or to prepare a meal to take over to their family to honor them.
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  You know, these are all just really great ideas. And you can also volunteer to help.
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  That's a function that might be happening at the local VFW or the Legion Post
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  or help to share and advertise something that you know about that helps military families.
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  So there are so many ways that we
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  can all be involved in recognizing and supporting our military families.
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  Those are some great suggestions. I know for me personally that I've been involved
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  with some Legion posts that have offered all kinds of different events and even
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  meals where people can come together.
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  And sometimes they even just need volunteers for people who can help serve food
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  for meals. So, yeah, really great ideas.
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  I think when we share some of those events and resources that we're aware of,
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  we can help kind of create a ripple effect, you know, both on social media and by word of mouth.
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  So you might know things I don't know about, and I might know things you don't
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  know about. So really sharing those different things.
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  And in effect, then we end up supporting more military families.
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  And that's what it's all about right there.
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  And I mentioned earlier, you know, something like care packages and finding
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  out who's out there, sharing lists of supplies that might be needed by a local
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  group that is doing care packages.
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  Sometimes it might be for a unit that's out of your own area of the country,
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  or it might even just be gathering things up that can be sent somewhere,
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  like you said, Christmas cards or something that can be sent to another place.
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  But there's actually an organization right here in central Kentucky called Military
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  Missions that does care packages every year.
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  And they have a lot of different opportunities all year long for volunteerism
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  and for people to bring in things like cards, supplies, toiletries,
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  various different things.
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  They even do a sewing club where people sew pillowcases that can be sent as
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  a part of care packages to units that are deployed out of Kentucky or in other
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  places. So all kinds of different great ideas there.
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  But sharing those, I think, can be the most important part of that.
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  I loved what you said earlier, the ripple effect, because if you think of how
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  ripples happen, they just kind of spread and grow.
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  And that does give everybody the opportunity to share in that volunteer experience.
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  So are there other ideas or suggestions you might have for celebrating our nation's
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  military and their families during November and throughout the year?
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  One of my very favorite things that I've gotten to do through my nearly 20 years
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  of working with various programs through extension for the military is just
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  spend time with family members and ask them to share their stories.
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  It's absolutely amazing, and it can mean so much for someone,
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  I think, to take the time for asking them about their service or asking them
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  about their experiences as a military kid,
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  a military spouse, you know, whatever it might be.
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  And just really showing your interest in what their story is and expressing
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  your gratitude and appreciation.
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  I think that's really important, even for military service members who aren't
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  career service members, but, you know, who served in a specific war.
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  You know, give them the opportunity to talk about that service because sometimes they harbor it.
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  And having the opportunity to share really gets it out of their heart and into the world a little bit.
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  Yes, indeed. And then, you know, just we don't always take time to write down
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  our stories of our lives.
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  So when somebody offers for us to share those stories out loud,
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  it can really be an incredible moment.
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  It can be a great moment for capturing some of the history in your own family
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  with experiences people have had.
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  One other thing, too, that I have been able to have the amazing joy is working
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  with military children and just asking them to talk openly with me as a trusted adult in their lives.
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  And so I think any of us can do that with the children and youth that we come across.
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  It can be a relief sometimes for the military child to just say out loud something that is tough.
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  Or something that's been a sacrifice or difficult for them along the way,
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  and then feel supported in that as they share it.
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  So I love listening and focusing on the children and youth that I get to work
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  with and hearing their stories, be it active duty, reserve, National Guard.
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  Sometimes the youth who are in the National Guard and reserves might be the
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  only child in their whole school or in a whole area because they're geographically
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  dispersed and not necessarily close to a base or something like that.
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  So sometimes they can feel a little bit alone or isolated.
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  And when they can share their story and find other people to connect with who
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  have similar experiences, it can make them feel much less alone.
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  You know, I love all of the ideas that you have shared with us today about celebrating
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  National Military Family Month in November.
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  And one of my favorites is just saying thank you.
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  Of course, in November, we want to always recognize and say thanks and show our gratitude,
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  but especially to those military families and to the military members who have served our country.
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  Absolutely. They're all heroes.
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  Exactly. And I thank you for taking the time to share with us today.
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  Thanks for having me. If you are just tuning in, you're listening to Talking
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