Profile: Operation Homefront

Operation Homefront provides emergency assistance and morale to our troops, to the families they leave behind, and to wounded warriors when they return home. A nonprofit 501(c)3 founded after September 11, Operation Homefront leads more than 2,500 volunteers in 26 chapters nationwide. Since its inception, Operation Homefront has provided critical assistance to more than 40,000 military families in need.   How We Help - Operation Homefront provides aid to families struggling not only with emergencies, but also the problems of everyday life. Existing programs include: Emergency Aid - Food, baby care items, vehicle donation and repair. Computer Program - Allows children and spouses to stay in touch with their loved one. Financial Assistance Program - Crises such as illness, homelessness and death. Furniture Program - Donated household and baby furniture; working order appliances. Moving - Providing physical labor for families when a service member is deployed. Social Outreach - Adopt-a-family, Thanksgiving/holiday baskets, back-to-school supplies.    History The history of Operation Homefront starts with CinCHouse.com. In 1999, Meredith Leyva was an executive for a large Washington, DC-public relations firm. When she learned the Navy had plans to deploy her husband or relocate their family, Meredith sought solace by creating a Web site to chat with fellow military spouses and female service members about military lifestyle issues and post information. Without advertising or promotion, that site garnered 40,000 unique visitors per month within four months of existence. Today, CinCHouse.com (jargon for Commander IN Chief of the House, i.e. a military spouse) receives as many as 900,000 unique visitors during stressful periods of deployment or relocation. In its 10 th anniversary ‘Netrospective,’ Yahoo! listed CinCHouse.com as one of the 100 most important things to happen to the Internet in the last 10 years. On September 11, 2001, Meredith and her husband were stationed at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in San Diego, where they watched as the first massive waves of deployments went to Afghanistan. While the fighting forces were prepared, it was clear the family support system had fallen apart when it was most needed. Thus, CinCHouse.com partnered with local San Diego media and veterans to create Operation Homefront, originally a project providing an outlet for citizens to show their support for the troops in ways that were most needed ─ helping the families they left behind. The military wives on CinCHouse.com became the key source for volunteers for Operation Homefront, but CinCHouse.com played another critical role: Getting the word out to military families in need. By the end of its first year, Operation Homefront was serving 10 percent of the military population in Southern California with a dedicated team of staff and volunteers. On the East Coast, Amy Palmer launched a similar nonprofit organization, the Armed Forces Foundation, with a similar mission and success rate in four major military communities. Amy merged her organization and three chapters into Operation Homefront and became executive vice president of Operations, and assuming responsibility for all charitable activities nationally and with local chapters. Soon civilians located in other military communities across the nation contacted us to launch Operation Homefront chapters. Today Operation Homefront boasts 26 chapters serving 27 states nationwide and serves as the parent organization of CinCHouse.com.