USO Ohio Makes Christmas Bright for Service Members on Duty

The holidays are always a good time to spread cheer, especially to service members who are separated from loved ones over the holidays. USO Ohio made sure to take care of those service members in several locations throughout last season’s Christmas Eve and Christmas Day holidays.

USO Volunteers from the Louisville area donned their Santa hats on Christmas Eve at various locations around Fort Knox, Kentucky to give out festive holiday gift bags specially created from local donations, stuffed with sweet snacks and holiday cards with personalized sentiments of support. Service members were even treated to a visit with a real USO Reindeer (a USO volunteer’s greyhound) to brighten their spirits.

The USO in Cleveland supported the United States Coast Guard on Christmas Day with a hearty holiday meal. A traditional meal of ham, turkey and all the fixings were delivered to the staff and crew of three Coast Guard units based in the Cleveland area. No holiday meal would be complete without a sweet finish - hot chocolate, Christmas-themed candy and even special gift packs were delivered to help extend gratitude to the Coast Guard members.

Meanwhile, in Dayton, Ohio, USO volunteers were also busy serving up Christmas cheer to the Airmen of the Springfield Air National Guard on duty Christmas Day. The meals were a welcome show of support and an important boost to morale. One Airman happily shared, “We are so fortunate to have you all. Tell everyone at the USO thank you and happy holidays from us!”

Nearby, at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB), USO staff and volunteers supported 60 members of an aircrew who were being temporarily sheltered at WPAFB. This crew of the National Airborne Operations Center perform a critical national security mission and must remain on alert status 24/7 whenever they’re not flying. They appreciated the opportunity to relax and recharge at the USO for a couple hours on Christmas Day– even while wearing their flight suits and tied to their pagers. USO provided them a hot lunch and entertained them with a volunteer pianist who kept things festive.