{"id":237316,"date":"2014-11-07T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-11-07T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/the-gift-of-giving\/"},"modified":"2014-11-07T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-11-07T08:00:00","slug":"the-gift-of-giving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/the-gift-of-giving\/","title":{"rendered":"The gift of giving"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Headquarters and USO San Diego team up to give back to military families<\/strong><\/p>\n

Morgan M. Hurley | Editor<\/p>\n

The USO is known for its many programs that not only support service members when they travel from destinations around the world, but our local USO San Diego does a lot more. <\/p>\n

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All American Boys Chorus will be performing this year. (Courtesy AABC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With San Diego having one of the largest populations of military in the nation, the local USO is constantly looking for ways to make things a little easier for those who live here and dedicate so much to our freedoms, especially around the holidays.<\/p>\n

For the second year in a row, USO San Diego is joining hands with The Headquarters at Seaport District for a special three-week drive that will allow San Diegans to share the gift of the holidays with local military families.<\/p>\n

On Nov. 28 at 6:30 p.m., the USO will launch the effort, with the lighting of the USO \u201cGiving Tree,\u201d a 25 foot, red, white and blue holiday tree in the center of The Headquarters\u2019 courtyard, inside the center of the popular retail destination located at 789 W. Harbor Dr.<\/p>\n

Open to the public, this year\u2019s event will include a color guard, the All American Boys\u2019 Chorus from Costa Mesa, USO representatives, senior military officials, Santa photo opportunities, cookies and hot chocolate, and the opportunity to give back to the local military families.<\/p>\n

\u201cSan Diego stands on the shoulders of the military, not just from a national security standpoint but also from an economic standpoint, and has for a long time,\u201d said Judy Forrester, president and CEO of USO San Diego. \u201cA lot of people think the USO is a government organization or we get government funding, but initially the USO was set up by FDR in 1941 so that the caring public could love and support our military. We are 100 percent dependent on local donations.\u201d<\/p>\n

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(Courtesy The Headquarters)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Also unique is what USO San Diego offers the local community.<\/p>\n

\u201cUSO National is located in Arlington; some [USOs] are direct reports and others are charter centers which is what we are,\u201d Forrester said. \u201cWe have an independent board of directors so we\u2019re able to do programming as needed in our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

With a brand new 10,000-square-foot airport center gifted by the San Diego Regional Airport Authority during the Terminal Two expansion, USO San Diego already has a lot to keep them busy. Since its opening, they\u2019ve seen 170,000 service members pass through. But its their Downtown center, located at 303 A St., that takes things a step further, with programs that have a primary focus on local active duty families, acting as a safety net for those living far from home.<\/p>\n

Much of that programming is dedicated to social service type programs, which Forrester said most other USOs do not get involved with. Programs such as emergency food pantries, Tuesday night dinners, and other family activities to strengthen and support San Diego\u2019s lower income military families during, before or after deployments.<\/p>\n

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This year the Giving Tree will be in the center of the courtyard at The Headquarters. (Courtesy The Headquarters)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

During the holidays, Forrester said USO San Diego has two large programs, not counting the many Thanksgiving dinners they will serve or deliver. One is called their \u201cSanta Store,\u201d where children learn how to choose gifts for their mom and\/or dad; and their \u201cGiving Tree,\u201d where families identified as unable to have a holiday due to income can come and pick out gifts for their children.<\/p>\n

This is where The Headquarters comes in. With over 1,000 needy military families to help this holiday season, USO San Diego is looking for gifts, gift cards and monetary donations to assist in meeting their goals.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe collect toys from infant to 18,\u201d Forrester said. \u201cThe things that sometimes we lack are for teenage type gifts, so for teenagers, gift cards are great.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said any kind of new, unwrapped toy is needed because the USO will categorize them by age so the parents can come in and choose the gifts and then volunteers will wrap them.<\/p>\n

Those attending the tree lighting can shop for the giving tree there.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got several stores that could help you do that, if you haven\u2019t got something on hand when you get here hopefully you will be inspired and go into Geppetto\u2019s or Urban Beach and get something for these kids,\u201d said Terry Hall, general manager of The Headquarters.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what the giving tree is all about, supporting our troops,\u201d Forrester said.<\/p>\n

Para m\u00e1s informaci\u00f3n visite theheadquarters.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2014Morgan M. Hurley puede ser contactado en <\/i>morgan@sdcnn.com<\/i><\/a>.<\/i><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Headquarters and USO San Diego team up to give back to military families Morgan M. Hurley | Editor The USO is known for its many programs that not only support service members when they travel from destinations around the world, but our local USO San Diego does a lot more.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":237317,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"The gift of giving","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11547,11551,11600],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-237316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-news","category-sdnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237316\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}