I have volunteered for this organization for a couple of years now. Back in 2012 we found our family in such a tight spot financially that we were not going to be able to have a Christmas for our boys. Not knowing where else to turn, I contacted SOS to see if they had any programs to assist with this type of emergency. They connected us with their Holiday Adoption Program and we were adopted that year! I could never in a million years explain how wonderful that Christmas was for us..... I still thank our adopters through prayer every Christmas eve and Christmas day. Without SOS pairing our family with adopters.... we would of had to pass up Christmas that year for our boys. Truly an amazing organization!
Contacted Spirit of Sharing with my families situation. They immediately said to come right in. We were able to go through the Food Bank to get the items we were in dire need of. Imagine you and your family on the last day of food in the household and you connect with a charity that says stop on by today to get food.... It was like the angels are singing from heaven. What a huge relief to know our family was going to be OK with food for a while!
THANK YOU SOS!
My family was transitioning from the military world to the civilian side. We were in desperate need of assistance. After contacting SOS and explaining our situation they helped us when I thought we were going to be homeless. I can never express how this organization came to our rescue. I only hope and pray we are able to give back to them at some point in our lives. So, that can be a blessing to another family being faced with what we did. .
- Marine Veteran Family
This organization is doing wonderful things. I've enjoyed watching how much they help all the needy military families. Such an amazing cause!
This is such great charity in Oceanside. I'm happy to see how it has helped and impacted so many military families. So sad to think kids wouldn't be able to have a happy holiday season like we all take for granted.
Wow, SOS, what a great organization. I love this charity's cause and the amazing strides that they make for our military and their families. Children are able to enjoy holidays like every other kid, and the stress that is on their parents is taken off. Military families have it so hard, with either a father or mother or both on deployment, and it is something us civilians never have to deal with. I am privileged to donate and help in any way I can with Spirit of Sharing.
Spirit of Sharing is such a wonderful organization, I'm so happy to be apart of it. Helping families in need and giving holiday cheer to them is remarkable.
I'm so glad there is an organization like this in our community, the military do so much for our country, it's a shame to see any of them struggling during the holidays. I'm very proud of this organization, and I hope to see them go even further in years to come!
I became familiar with Spirit of Sharing thru my daughter, who has volunteered for the organization over the past several years and who also served in the military. I love this charity's cause and the great things that they do for our military and their families. I am very proud to have been able to donate and participate with this organization when I have come to visit my daughter and her family during the holidays. I have seen SOS make miracles happen for these military families and their gratitude and appreciation make it all worthwhile. Keep up the great work SOS!!!!
I am a retired service member and have volunteered, along with my family, with Spirit of Sharing for the past 7 years and it has always been a great and rewarding experience to be able to help fellow service members and their families during the holidays. The volunteers are great!
SOS is an amazing nonprofit that does such wonderful things for our active duty service members and their families. It has been an absolute privilege to work with this charitable organization for the past several years!!!
I moved to California from NM 3 years ago, right after my husband got out of boot camp. The first few years were difficult. It was all so new: moving, marriage, and the military life-style. When my husband returned from his first deployment to Afghanistan, it was both a relief and a challenge. We had to readjust to what, we had become accustomed to, he was used to combat and I was not. However, we worked through it and have never communicated better. But these challenges take their toll. We were lucky! Families face terrifying alternatives, death, injury, and sickness. The spouses in these circumstances stand so strong often holding up an entire family, virtually on their own. It's hard to believe what some of these spouses go through, such as raising 2-3 (or more) children, holding down jobs, and taking care of their injured husbands, or emotionally supporting service members who've been deployed. They often do this with a smile on their faces even if the weight is breaking them from the inside out. Sometime it's a financial burden such as, the car registration they can't pay this month (CA is expensive), or it's the electric bill (it's not free to live on base). Tragically these families often can't afford to feed their families, or afford the basic necessities for their school age children. That's where Spirit Of Sharing comes in and that's why I'm a PROUD volunteer of this incredible organization. Each year, a handful of SOS volunteers work tirelessly to create a joyful holiday season for active duty military families in southern California. Military families are from all over the country, but here in Oceanside we meet at Camp Pendleton (and the 8 other bases in SoCal), as fellow Marines, military spouses, Sailors, Soldiers, Airmen, and Reservists. Spirit Of Sharing works hard to assist these families with the purchase of holiday food items, gifts for the kiddos, a few new clothing items for school, and school supplies. And Spirit Of Sharing helps in those times of distress (SOS), especially when the family is doing without, for so long, and they don't want their children to suffer. Or when, in the worst case scenario a service member is killed or injured in combat or training. Spirit Of Sharing steps in to assist families and ease the burden of a terrible tragedy. It's an incredible feeling for a military spouse not to feel alone during such an experience, or even just to have support in the little everyday emergencies that can unnecessarily burden a military spouse and service member. It's a very real comfort to know that the community does care and that their sacrifice is not in vain.
I am a veteran of the United States Marine Corps and was a military spouse for 15 years, until my husband retired in 2011. I know, firsthand, the struggles of daily life as a military family. There were not organizations like Spirit of Sharing when we were a young military family, that is why SOS is such an amazing organization. It assists military families stationed throughout the southern California area with emergency assistance without discriminating because of rank or size of family. SOS helps to provide immediate assistance to families in need of food, help with transportation, clothing, household items, and works to provide help with those unexpected financial situations that families are often faced with. I have worked with SOS as a volunteer since 2007 and it has been one of the most rewarding things I have ever had the privilege of doing. Helping these wonderful military families in their time of need through the help of our community and creating friendships and lasting relationships has impacted my life greatly. It is with great pleasure that I nominate Spirit of Sharing as one of the great nonprofits of California. They serve a need for a cause that often times goes overlooked and under served. They are a small 501(c)(3) charity, locally based in southern California and all volunteer and are very deserving of this recognition.
Thank you,
Rachel Walker