For every deployed service men and women, there are children, spouses and even parents left behind. These people must ultimately continue with their lives while their loved ones are on duty calls. Military families face a lot of challenges especially if they’ve just moved to a new location. The transition period can be hard for them to handle without the help from family, friends and the community they live in. Some of the difficulties military families go through include loneliness, fear of the unknown, financial concerns, blending into the community, overwhelming responsibilities among others. Both spouses and children will try to handle the situation in different ways based on factors such as maturity, age and personalities. Often, the way a parent will cope the stress of deployment will have direct impacts on their children.

So for individuals and the community at large, it’s vital to understand and find out ways of helping military families through such difficult times. There are so much you can personally contribute towards alleviating stress levels for these families. From gardening, baby sitting, walking their dogs, preparing meals, laundry to financial support and counseling, there are numerous activities you can volunteer and extend your support. There are many military support groups and organizations dedicated to helping military families in different ways. But on an individual level, here’s what you can do.

Volunteer
As mentioned earlier, there are so many ways you could help a military family. One of the most effective ways is through simple volunteering activities such as lawning, cooking, jumpstart a car among other household errands. By doing this, you are helping them avoid minor inconvenience and making their lives less stressful.

Donation
Military donations may come in different forms. It could be in form of food groceries, furniture, appliances or clothes donation. As you consider to offer your support through donations, ensure you understand the specific needs the family has because there is no need offering clothes while what they need the most is food. In addition, you can offer to pay their utility bills like water, electricity or even give them financial support with their children school fees. Just make it sincere without making them feel uncomfortable with your assistance.

Invite them to your house
Sharing a meal can be a great way to show you care. You might not be able to go all big with your support, a simple dinner or lunch out can make a military family feels special and appreciated. And this is what they need to feel on daily basis considering how thoughtful they can be remembering their loved ones who are out serving their country. While at that, you can bake some of your special cakes and give as a send off after partaking a meal together. By all means, being friends is the least you can do for them and surely they’ll acknowledge it, even if they won’t say it.

Spend time with them
Helping military families shouldn’t be that hard, simply be yourself and find the perfect opportunities you can help. Apart from inviting them to your house, you can also extend the gesture by going out to watch a movie or catch a play. This is a great way to get the pressure of them by participating in stress relieving activities.

Through action and word, you can go a long way to reach their hearts and make an impact in their lives. But as you try to help out in one way or the other, make sure it’s sincere and all out of gratitude for the sacrifices their loved ones are making while on duty.