Holiday vouchers aim to brighten season on Okinawa

[unhappycamper]

Holiday vouchers aim to brighten season on Okinawa
By Cindy Fisher, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Thursday, November 8, 2007


CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — Some Marine Corps and Navy families here will have a more bountiful holiday season thanks to the Holiday Food Voucher Program.

The program is distributing checks for $60 to $75 — redeemable at all commissaries — to qualified families during the Thanksgiving and December holiday seasons, said Bert Corn, Personal Service Center director.

It’s a combined effort by the III Marine Expeditionary Force and Marine Corps Bases Japan and coordinated by the Personal Service Center. Funding comes from the Religious Offering Fund, unit donations and organizations such as the American Legion and local Veterans of Foreign Wars.

The program also receives strong community support, Corn said Tuesday.

“Some folks come in off the streets” to donate after hearing about it, he said. The American Engineering Corporation donates thousands of dollars each year, and in the past, local taxi companies have contributed, Corn said.

All donations go to helping families here, said Salina McBride, a center program assistant.


Rest of article at: http://stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=50109



uhc comment: Something is really wrong when programs must exist to feed our troop's families.

[Rabrrrrrr]

1. It is indeed a scandal. As well as the scandal that many of our troops are on Food Stamps.

Democrats keep trying to pay them more and increase their benefits, and Republicans keep taking it away - like they took away the extra combat pay for many of our troops in Iraq; while at the same time hiring private contractors for shitloads of money, so that our troops, getting paid a shitty little amount X for doing a job, do that job right alongside a civilian who's doing the exact same job, but for 5X.