The Heroes at Home free gift card registry program, run and funded by Sears, will open for registration August 30 at 1 p.m. Central Time, according to the Sears website.
The program, which last year was embroiled in controversy and resulted in embarrassing behavior from many in the military spouse community after the registry’s server crashed, gives free, $52 Sears gift cards to active duty families.
Last year’s sign-up was an absolute fiasco. When the server supporting the sign-up crashed under the volume of users, Sears chose to abandon all registrations that occurred before the breakdown and reschedule the program opening for later in the week.
Some who thought they had registered did not know that they needed to sign-up again, and others who didn’t get in the first time made the list during the re-try session. Instead of thanking the company for even being willing to facilitate a free gift card program, the result was a bitter conversation that questioned the program Sears’ eligibility requirements, including why the program is open to all military pay grades.
Frankly, it made the entire community look like a bunch of entitled, complaining, well … I think you know where I’m going with this.
If I were the corporate executive who approves and oversees this charitable program, I’d say “goodbye military community, you are not the kind of people I want to help. I’m taking my support to the starving children in Africa.”
But instead they are giving us another chance. Isn’t that nice of them? So let’s ready our Sunday School behavior and register.
How? It’s pretty simple:
Visit this site on August 30 at 1 p.m. CT – that’s 2 p.m. for you East Coast folks and 11 a.m. for those on the West Coast. Fill out the form, follow the prompts on the screen and be prepared for it to maybe not work just like you think it will.
But before you start your engines or gird your loins, I want you to think about two things:
1. If you aren’t struggling financially, leave the program’s limited spots open for someone who is. These gift cards are meant for Christmas gift shopping. Not worried about covering the cost of that new pack of underwear your child is sure to be just tickled to pieces over? Consider giving this giveaway a pass.
2. This is a gift! So the website crashes. So your child hurls his cup of milk at your head five seconds before the sign-up starts and by the time you recover all the spots are filled. It’s going to be OK. Take a deep breath and be happy for those who did get in.
Happy registering!
About Amy Bushatz
Comments
AAHHH this made me so mad last year. I fall into the "I don't have kids so it's not a big deal" category and didn't attempt to register but reading the comments after the website went down MADE ME SICK. I wish they would have opted out of the program this year.
I was one of those who registered, then it crashed, and I couldn’t get back in to register. I was disappointed but far from angry or upset. I made it a point to let Sears know that I appreciate the program. I do hope to get in this year though because this is definitely a “need” year. Last year was more of a “this would help a bit” year. I actually felt greedy for even registering.
This post is filled with grammatical errors and poorly edited. How embarassing that the author is a Managing Editor!
O.S. — thanks for your note. I appreciate you watching out for us. I gave this piece another re-read and had our Military.com copy editor do the same. I spotted one instance where a word was missing (and I have corrected that) and she found a few copy things where she would put a comma or hyphenate the word, but really it could go either way … so I am honestly at a loss regarding your comment.
O.S. was probably one of the military spouses that were complaining last year about it crashing. Or maybe not. But I don't see their reason for pointing out grammatical errors. Petty.
OS., That's really petty. Are you still in high school? Get your eyes checked and while you're at it, get a life.
We were lucky enough to get in on this program last year, which was great considering it was DH's first year of AD and I was unemployed. This year I have donated money to the program when shopping at Sears. I am sorry to hear that so many behaved the way that they did, how unfortunate for everyone involved.
Why are you so insulting? I am guessing you did not qualify to join the military or you were dumped by someone in the military.
I don't find anything insulting about the letter. I agree with her that it is embarrassing when a "few" people act like they are entitled because they are military. We all joined for different reasons but, I don't think that any of us did it for handouts. The military today, as well as in my time (Desert Storm), is treated with reverence and respect. Maybe you are too young to remember how returning Viet Nam vets were treated but, they were not offered anything from any corporations. It is unfortunate that a great deal of the public never has the chance to interact military personnel and forms their opinions based on stories from the news.
Semper Fi..
Jerry
Thank you for the feedback! Who is this woman quoting? She said it left up to her. By the way we all know Sears attracts many paying customers with this campaign, they are very business saavy. I believe you have forgotten what it is like to raise a family on E1-E3 pay. These young americans took an Oath to serve , dont insult them as well.
Jerryy
Thank you for the feedback! Who is this woman quoting? She said it left up to her. By the way we all know Sears attracts many paying customers with this campaign, they are very business saavy. I believe you have forgotten what it is like to raise a family on E1-E3 pay. These young americans took an Oath to serve , dont insult them as well.
Entitled, uh yah I think we are, I don't know what I'm entitled too but I do know that most didn't volunteer their lives to their country, they choose to right lame opinion pieces magnify a few trashy members of the military, I had no clue about this program last year so I doubt the world was exposed to our fools behavior. To take the time to revisit it what was probably forgotten is lame. Maybe take time to right a piece on people's conduct on black Friday, notice there are no stories of PX deaths?
I can guarantee you it was not forgotten by all. I remember when it happened last year, and I remember how the "entitled" spouses were acting. My response to the ones complaining about it. Go get a job instead of sitting on your "entitled" rears all day. Then you wouldn't be dependent on a company like Sears who were gracious enough to even consider the military community to give to.
our family was blessed with this gift one year when we were at our worst, and let me just say shame on anyone in the military community that got upset over anything…just because we are married to soldiers does NOT entitle us to anything or any special treatment…..it is an honor to call ourselves military spouses, we should never act like we are owed or deserve anything! and lets not forget as spouses we are not the ones defending this country, we are merely supporting those that do, and holding up the homefront while they are gone….being married to a soldier does not entitle us to anything. The soldiers are the ones entitled, lets not forget WE SPOUSES did not sign on that line to join the military…we merely agreed to stand by our soldiers side whether here or there to support them while they do their job. And nowhere does it state that any companies or people have to show there support or gratitude by giving the miliary money,or doing fundraisers, etc etc….when things like these are done we should just be thankful that there are a handful of people out there that are so thankful for what our soldiers do and are willing to give back to those soldiers and their famililies.
and to comment on my own post…. yes I have donated to this cause, and like so many others I would hope my contributions are not going to ppl that think they are entitled just because they so….these programs are for ppl that are going through a hard time or cant afford christmas…needless to say we shouldnt be signing up for this if we can afford christmas because of the fact that there are so many families that can truly use this program for their children and families
Mrs. Bushatz
Hello I happened to come upon your article while searching what the Heroes at Home Program was and this is what came up. I am a military spouse as well and I have to say that I am offended by your article. I feel as though you have attacked the entire Military Community. While I can understand that "some" may have acted poorly I do NOT feel that gives you the right to bash the entire group. This could happen with any GROUP of people Military or not, let me state that I am NOT defending those who acted poorly (shame on them) however I do not appreciate your attack on all military spouses. I have held a FRG President position for my husbands command for 3 years and well I had to deal with rude, angry, spouses yet I NEVER judged the entire group by a "few" peoples bad behavior. I have NEVER been ungrateful or acted entitled. So I guess my question to you is am I a "entitled, complaining, well…."?
I absolutely agree with your viewpoint on this shameful article Danielle! A few bad apples doesn't mean we're all acting that way. I didn't participate, I actually have donated both years since I found out about it. It's really insulting that all military spouses are being judged by a few who are acting out.
Sigh. Stuff like this, and that very well remembered fiasco, makes us all look bad. We're not entitled to anything. This is a volunteer force. My husband CHOOSES to do this. It doesn't entitle us to crap.
Rest assured, world.. the large majority of us do not feel the way those people do. Please excuse them.