Holiday commercials are already designed to make you feel something. So when Facebook took an actual event and told the story, we couldn't help but wipe away tears.
In 2013, the Military Mama Network (MMN) supported a deployed Air Force doctor and rallied around her family during the holidays. This commercial highlights something military spouses already know: the power and importance of community.
While we still need in-person support, we're turning more and more to Facebook groups, comprised of people who understand our circumstances first-hand. They get it because they live it.
We go to Facebook for advice about insurance, duty stations, coping and terminology, as well as for guidance and friendship. Facebook has been a godsend to stay connected to our families and friends, through moves, deployments, big moments and little ones.
This commercial about the Military Mama Network absolutely nails it.
MMN was founded Sept. 11, 2013, to support service members, veterans and their families. "We know that although one serves, all family members sacrifice. We try to balance it all with a wide variety of opportunities to serve and connect," MMN Founder Geriann Wiesbrook said in an email.
In addition to running more than 100 Facebook groups to connect military spouses, veterans and families, MMN provides volunteer opportunities that enable members to feel that in-person connection. It sponsors homeless veteran drives and works with local service organizations, the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars. It sends care packages to troops overseas, runs card drives and a Christmas train, and works countless local missions where members reside.
"I imagine you can sense the pride that comes with leading this group," Wiesbrook said. "Not because of the commercial (although I LOVE IT and am so grateful for Facebook's decision to tell our story), but because we have a wonderful leadership team who has one purpose: support our troops, veterans and families. My eyes leak almost daily with the amazing mamas and men in our group, and now more and more spouses are finding us. I hope when they do, they have the sense of coming home ... with someone awake at all hours."
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