Military spouses are incredibly loyal to individuals and businesses which are military-friendly. And let's face it, more often than not, we're the ones making the purchasing decisions for the household. We're usually the Chief Financial Officer.
Yesterday, someone forwarded an email to me. A credit union has asked their members to do something wonderful for deployed service members.
Please Help with this Special Cause
In honor of our troops, and in the spirit of the upcoming holidays, [name redacted for now] is asking you, our members, to help Q100's the Bert Show with the Bert Show's Big Thank You. The Bert Show's Big Thank You is a collective effort to receive 375,000 letters--enough for each member of the U.S. military currently stationed outside of the country to receive one. The purpose of the letter is to express thanks to the military personnel serving the United States.
Each letter should be heartfelt, handwritten, original, and free of any political statements. All letters must be on 8.5 X 11 paper or smaller. Do not use glue, tape, staples, cardboard, glitter or otherwise attach anything to the paper. Please do NOT send anything except letters. We cannot accept donations of any kind, and they should not be included or attached to letters.
The deadline to help is fast approaching. Letters must be received by 4pm on Thursday, October 25th.
The email prompted me to act on something I have been thinking about for quite some time. A new monthly segment here at SpouseBUZZ - The SpouseBUZZ Smooch.
As I said at the top, milspouses are unwaveringly loyal to those who bend over backwards for military families. We have highlighted several businesses here at SpouseBUZZ, and on SpouseBUZZ Talk Radio, for outstanding service to the military community. We've also spoken with celebrities who are using their celebrity to help our troops. Spouses have a grapevine that nobody can match. Just last week, several of us were discussing two companies which provide the same product. One of the spouses pointed out the long and stellar record with respect to taking care of military families on the part of one of the companies, and it was quickly decided which company deserved our attention. Milspouses will go out of our way to patronize businesses that make us feel special. We do it all the time.
We're very fortunate to have this blog and our radio show. One of the ways we can use these platforms is to make you aware of who is looking out for you. It's not a one-way street. We should give back, too, which is why we're starting The SpouseBUZZ Smooch, one small way to thank those who support us.
Once a month, we'll highlight a business that has shown its support for the military community. A business which has put the politics of war aside (which is what we do here at SpouseBUZZ) in favor of supporting our community. We'll tell the story of why they were selected in a blog post and we'll encourage you to let your fellow military spouses know about the good deed(s) so they can patronize the business. I will print out the blog post and comments, and send them to the business so that they know how much we appreciate their support. In addition, if they would like to come on air with us, a spokesperson for the business will be invited to participate in a segment on SpouseBUZZ Talk Radio. No strings. No stunts. Just a way to highlight a good deed and say "thanks, we appreciate you."
Thankfully, there are so many worthy businesses, small and large, who are doing great things for the military community. This is where you come in. If you know of one, tell us about it in the comment section. Give us a list of businesses which deserve consideration and tell us why. We'll take your nominations. The business can be local or national. Big or small. Service or product focused. Mom-and-Pop or Chain. Doesn't matter. All that matters is that the business has a proven track record with respect to caring for the military community. However, we don't want non-profits to be nominated. We highlight those separately through our In Focus program.
For obvious reasons, we will vet the nominations as fully as we can to be sure that they are worthy candidates. If you have supporting links, etc., please make sure to leave those, too. If you're more comfortable emailing your candidate, you can email it in.
We've highlighted businesses and celebrities on a more informal, ad hoc basis before at SpouseBUZZ. Previous kudos:
A real estate agent in Virginia
So, here we go.....
Nominations?
