Military families are our nation's unsung heroes. They make sacrifices and carry on through long separations from their loved ones, and they don't get enough recognition for it. In honor of Veterans Day and Thanksgiving, it's time that we changed that. This year use care packages and greeting cards to thank our troops and their families for their service and sacrifice. Since November is National Military Family Month many organizations will be gathering up goods to help both military personnel and their families.

5 Tips for Celebrating Military Families

Listed below are a few programs that you can get involved this Veterans Day.

Holiday Meals for Military

Every military deserves a delicious meal around the holidays. Operation Homefront provides the solution. They organize and send Holiday Meal kits, complete with turkey, stuffing, gravy, vegetables, and more. This year, their goal is to ship 12,000 kits to over 25 active duty bases. Would you like to help? Visit their website for more information on volunteer opportunities.

Care Packages for Care Givers

When wounded soldiers come home it's usually their spouses or parents that help look after them. Being a caregiver takes a lot of work, so Operation Gratitude has created care packages specifically for caregivers. In the past, these packages have been filled with supplies from Yankee Candle, Bath & Body Works, The Pampered Chef, and more. With a donation, you can send a care packaged to a devoted caretaker for the upcoming holidays.

Send A Blessing

Adopt a Platoon sends care packages to the troops for nearly every holiday. Their Thanksgiving package program is called Send A Blessing. For these care packages, they suggest buying DVDs, popcorn, and candy for the troops to enjoy. More information can be found on this website

Holidays for Heroes

The Red Cross has a program called Holidays for Heroes, in which people make homemade cards and send them to the Red Cross for the troops. Some Red Cross branches also encourage people to send in items for soldier care packages. Would you like to participate? Contact your local Red Cross agency for more details.

Candy for the Troops

Do you still have some leftover Halloween candy lying around? Instead of letting it go to waste, gather it up and send it to the troops. Operation Gratitude also has a Halloween give back program where Americans can donate their extra Halloween candy to the troops. If you're interested, be sure to ship your candy to the organization by November 15th. For more information, try this link.