Comforts from Home — Help the USO Help our Troops with Marie Callendar’s

I remember the first December I was in the Army.  I had gotten to my unit in Germany in October, so I hadn’t been there very long when the Christmas season hit.  I was single, in a foreign country, far from home and truly living on my own for the very first time.  There were a few other lieutenants who were in similar situations–we made plans to cook Christmas dinner together, because no one wants to be alone on the holidays.

I’ve always loved the beauty of the Christmas season, so I bought myself a real evergreen tree from the Boy Scout troop on post, decorated it silver and red–I used silver and red glass balls, then bought silver and red curling ribbon and tied it all over the tree and curled it (I couldn’t afford a lot of ornaments).  For the “star” I bought a silver and red pinwheel and taped it to the top of the tree.  It was festive–but waking up Christmas morning to open my presents by myself was sort of sad and anticlimatic.  By the next Christmas we were preparing to deploy to Bosnia-Herzegovina for IFOR. . . we thought we were going to have to spend Christmas in theater, but it was delayed and at least I got to spend Christmas in my own apartment with friends.

I’m lucky–I was never deployed for Christmas itself.  My baby sister joined the reserves and was deployed to Iraq. . . she did spend the holiday deployed.  I knew how much of a letdown that would be and wanted to perk things up for her as much as possible–so we sent her a Christmas care package with food and decorations from the dollar store:

She may have been in the desert, but they had a tree, a creche and some stockings.  Little things like that can mean a LOT.

So when Marie Callendar’s told me about their Comfort From Home Project I realized exactly how much it must mean to the troops it serves, and I was happy to share it with you for them.

I’m sure you all already know that Marie Callender’s makes tasty frozen meals and desserts–I’m not much for frozen food on a daily basis, but I love having Marie Callender’s tasty pot pies in the fridge for the family when I head out to a conference, or for the occasional hectic evening where dinner doesn’t get made–they have high quality ingredients and homemade style touches (the crust is nice and flaky!)

The Comforts from Home Project is a partnership with the United Service Organization (USO) that aims to bring some of the favorites from home to service members abroad who miss those things most during the holidays.  The USO has a program called “Operation Celebration” that provides troops stationed around the world a “home away from home” to help make sure every holiday, small or large, is celebrated.

The program ensures that our troops have a place to celebrate every holiday, with or without their families, bringing the comforts of home that can often be taken for granted, such as seasonal meals, company, entertainment and a chance to relax away from the stress of active service.

Last year through this program  Marie Callendars donated $250,000 to the USO2Go program which gave care packages to a very deserving group of servicemen and women!  This year you have your own chance to help!

How does it work? For each code you enter from a specially marked Marie Callendar’s meal or dessert box, they will donate $.50 to the USO Operation Celebration program up to a total of $300,000.

From Sept 1, 2015 — Jan 29, 2016 consumers can help give by entering the on pack code from one of the more than 51 million specially marked Marie Callender’s frozen meals or desserts.

Codes are found on the backs of the boxes:

Go to the Comforts From Home website and enter your codes–each code equals a $.50 donation to the USO.  At the website you can also find a full list of participating Marie Callender’s products, and see how many codes have been entered with the real time code tracker!

Note:  For every entry by 1/29/2016 of an 8-digit code found on participating products, Marie Callender’s will donate $.50 to the USO Operation Celebration program. Guaranteed minimum donation: $100,000. Maximum donation: $300,000. Limit 5 code entries per person/computer each day. Valid in U.S. Only.

It’s an easy way to help this holiday season!  And let’s face it–there are going to be a few nights in the hectic lead up to the holiday when getting supper on the table is just a bit too much to face.  Why not pick up some delicious Marie Callender’s meals, enter the codes on the Comforts From Home website, and then toss them in the deep freeze to make your life a bit easier.  That way you are helping yourself and the troops!

Find Marie Callender’s  on their social channels

• Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/mcallenders/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarieCallendersMeals

#ComfortsFromHome #CG

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.