Get involved this holiday season

  • Published
  • By Col. Steve Arquiette
  • 60th Air Mobility Wing commander
Happy Holidays!

This Monday we celebrated the Christmas Tree and Menorah Lighting Ceremony by the Main Gate.

This event, complete with hot drinks, tabletops full of home-baked cookies and cheerful fellowship kicked off the Team Travis holiday season.

Thank you to the Chapel staff, our Civil Engineering pros, the Vanden High School band and many others who made this such a wonderful event for our families and children.

While many of us are able to be home for the holidays and enjoy the blessings of this Season's fellowship with friends and family, please be sure to help those who are deployed or away from family; it's important that we care for the families of the Airmen, Soldiers, Marines and Sailors who are deployed during the holiday season.

Stop by or call to say hello, help string lights outside or put up the Christmas tree, adopt a single Airman living in the dorms into your family -- these little acts of kindness are truly meaningful and very powerful expressions of what it means to be a part of the armed forces family.

We'll be hosting our Deployed Spouses Dinner on Dec. 19 at the Travis Conference Center, so please help ensure everyone gets the word!

It's free for the spouses and their children and there will be lots of activities and information to share.

As always, our great community is not forgetting our troops during the holiday season.
One Sacramento group, Toys for Troops' Kids, collected donations specifically for our families.

On Dec. 20 from 5 to 7 p.m., spouses of deployed personnel can go to the Airman and Family Readiness Center to pick up donated toys, and on Dec. 21 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. the program will open up to all families on base.

This program is designed to support the troops and receipt of the gifts is not on a needs basis.

In addition, the community invites our Airmen to various holiday events throughout the community.

This information is published in our local papers as well as forwarded through your commanders and first sergeants, so I encourage everyone to take advantage of these occasions.

More importantly, though, I encourage everyone to put aside some time to volunteer during the holiday season.

Homeless shelters and Veteran's Homes welcome and encourage people to volunteer for their programs or come visit. Our local OSI Detachment teamed with Girl Scout Troop 96 to collect food for the Vacaville Food Pantry; it was heartwarming to see the pride in these young girls eyes as they showed me the huge piles of food donations they'll soon deliver to those in need just outside our gates.

Taking some time to make a difference in somebody else's life makes a difference in yours.

Deb, Stevie and I hope to see you around the base and personally wish you a happy holiday season and thank you for all you do.

Please have a safe and cheerful end to a wonderful year!

BE PROUD! BE SAFE!