Back to Online Newspapers

USO - always serving

Connects family, home and nation

USO Northwest, among others, welcome home WWII veterans who’d gone to Washington, D.C., with the Puget Sound Honor Flight. Photo credit: USO Northwest/Facebook

Email Article Print Article Share on Facebook Share on Reddit Share on StumbleUpon

The USO strengthens America's servicemembers by keeping them connected to family, home and country throughout their service to the nation.

As a congressionally chartered, nonprofit organization, the USO is not part of the government and does not receive any government funding. In fact, USO Northwest relies entirely on the generosity of individuals, organizations, foundations, corporations and fundraisers to support its work.

The USO NW supports America's military servicemembers and their families throughout Washington and Oregon.

"For over 78 years, the USO has been the nation's leading organization to serve the men and women in the U.S. military," wrote Tim Bogle, USO NW's director of development & marketing, in an email.

With the help of over 600 volunteers, USO NW annually serves over 800,000 military members and their families.

Among the numerous ways USO NW serves military members and their families, its Helping Hands program stands out. Offered by no other USO, the Helping Hands program was established to support the need for military families to spend time together.

Since military units have limited funding available to provide for morale building activities, and there are regulations prohibiting the military from fundraising or soliciting support, USO NW created the Helping Hands program to cover the costs of such activities.

"This program was established to help provide servicemembers and their families the opportunity to spend time together with their families," continued Bogle.

"Welcome home celebrations, pre-deployment parties, family day picnics and tickets to ballgames are just a few examples of the family-focused activities that our Helping Hands program makes possible."

Last year, the program served over 99,000 local military members and their families.

Donations to the Combined Federal Campaign, or CFC, play a vital role in allowing USO NW to continue its work.

"One hundred percent of all contributions made to the USO Northwest through the CFC campaign go directly back to the military through our Helping Hands program," explained Bogle.

Support our military by supporting USO NW through CFC number 15348.

To serve Joint Base Lewis-McChord's servicemembers and their families, USO NW does so through the Shali Center on McChord Field and its two Mobile USO Canteens.

"To better serve the military and family stationed on Fort Lewis, USO Northwest opened the new Camp Lewis USO Center across the street from Waller Hall," concluded Bogle.

For more information, visit usonw.org.

Read next close

Online Newspapers

Beating blood cancer

comments powered by Disqus