Community Wellbeing

Do you remember the new mom on the playground who you noticed? She wasn’t chatting with anyone and didn’t seem to be meeting anyone there. Can you recall seeing moving trucks in your neighborhood, and a couple of years later, seeing them again? Have your kids shared about a new kid at school moving in mid-year because their parent is in the military? Chances are, there are military families in each of our neighborhoods, communities, schools, churches, scout groups, sports teams and gym classes — and within those military families, there is more than likely a strong, determined, “doesn’t want to ask for help” female looking for a friend, or a helping hand at some point during their time in your hometown.

Building community with military families focuses on fostering connection and understanding. We all just want friends to text and say, “Let’s meet for coffee” or “Can you help pick up my kids from a sports practice?” As military families, we face unique challenges and often go into new seasons of life without family or close friends nearby. Frequent moves, deployments, and lots of unknowns make life hard for military families, but the communities built within these times are what make the military life truly special.

Here are some practical ways you can welcome a new military family into your community:

• INVITE them to dinner or a playdate at the park. Invest time into this relationship. The friendships made over one, two or three years with a military spouse may be the best friend you didn’t even realize you were missing. Now she’s moved to Hawaii or Europe, and you’ve got a place to stay and a new travel buddy! DO NOT have the mentality of “I don't want to get close to someone who will move” … life’s boring without change, embrace it!  
  
  
• Offer insights on the best hair salon in your neighborhood, or sports signup happening crazy fast and you have to be in line at 5 a.m. for a spot for swim lessons or where to go for a quick takeout meal (better yet, TAKE THEM the quick takeout meal). The little-known secrets that all the locals know about — this is what the new military family is desperately trying to find out.
  
  
• If you know a military family with a deployed spouse, offer to help carpool or bring in their trash cans from the curb, pick up groceries or drop off a coffee. Small gestures go a long way!
  
  
• SAY HELLO! Say hi to the park's new mom, drop by when moving trucks are in the driveway, write down your name and number and follow up with a text. Offer to be their “emergency contact” on school forms (most military families do not have a parent or bestie nearby to write down).

Loving on military families isn’t always easy, and it’s never easy to say “see you later” when you watch a moving truck roll down your street with the neighbor you became great friends with, but in the end, it’s good for everyone. These friendships and communities are what make us all better in the end.