USASOA's 5th Year of Raising Awareness and Resources for our Wounded, Homeless and At-Risk Veterans.
For the past 5 years, USASOA has been raising awareness for the needs of our ill, injured and wounded veterans and their families including our homeless and 'at-risk' veterans who often live their lives in quiet pain and hopelessness.
The USASOA 'Boot On The Ground' campaign is an awareness/prevention collection drive to educate the American people to the lack of basic essentials such as food, toiletries, shelter and more that exists in the wounded veteran community. As a collection drive to gather needed items such as toiletries, food items, clothing and more, USASOA volunteers distribute the items collected to local veteran homeless shelter, the American Red Cross Station located at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and directly to wounded veterans who contact us directly for assistance. Additionally, USASOA operates an online Amazon store for our ill, injured and wounded veterans who live in rural areas where accessibility to a store is a difficult journey.
HOW IT WORKS: Consider holding a Boots On The Ground in your local neighborhood, office, business or place of worship.
Hold A BOOTS ON THE GROUND in your Neighborhood/Businesses/Offices or Places of Worship: On a particular, designated day, distribute the USASOA Boots On The Ground flyer outlining the program and its impact on the lives of our wounded veterans, their families including our homeless and 'at-risk' veterans - the flyer will have a list of items needed the most. Then, select another day - usually 3 to 4 days after the flyers has been distributed which gives people time to shop, have then bring the items they purchased to your business, office or place of worship. USASOA will provide all of the materials that you will require to hold a Boots On The Ground - it takes a little time and energy but anyone can now have a direct and meaningful impact on the quality of life for our wounded veterans in need.
Hold a BOOTS ON THE GROUND at a Local Grocery Store: USASOA volunteers have been holding monthly Boots On The Ground Collection drives in front of Giant Food Stores in the DC and Maryland areas. Giant Foods has and continues to be a terrific supporter of our veteran community. USASOA volunteers set up a table just outside of the store entrance and hand out flyers with a list of the items needed the most - we ask customers who are entering the store to please make a purchase of one of the items and drop them off to our table as they leave. In this way, USASOA continues to engage the American people within their local communities as to the need for their support for those veterans who lack the basics of life that so many of us take for granted every day. This program allows everyone to contribute at least one item - and every item counts. If we could get everyone to make a donation of at least one item that will have an enormous impact. To learn more, please contact Hillary Holland, USASOA Program Director for our Homeless and At-Risk Veteran Outreach Program