Feature -- Lending a helping hand to enlisted members throughout the year

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Kasey Zickmund
  • 18th Wing Public Affairs
KADENA AIR BASE, Japan --  Kadena Air Base enlisted members who need a helping hand this holiday season can turn to Operation Warm Heart - a program run by first sergeants and the 18th Wing Chapel here.

Operation Warm Heart helps approximately 600 Airmen a year here by donating money, food baskets, and gifts for children during the holiday season for those in need.

"If Airmen just need a couple hundred dollars to make to next pay check we will give them the money," said Master Sgt. Lynette Harshman, 718th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron first sergeant. "Or when a spouse's military member is deployed and for some reason doesn't have access to money, we can help them as well."

In preparation for Thanksgiving, the first sergeants put together food baskets including a turkey, ham, rolls, potatoes, stuffing, and other items for families to make a traditional Thanksgiving Day dinner. The first sergeants distributed them to needy families Nov. 19.

"Some people might think it's a hand out but it's not," said Master Sgt. Teresa Hall, 18th Medical Group first sergeant. "We are here to help them and to make sure that they have a good holiday because we are a part of the Air Force family."

For Christmas, the first sergeants run the Angel Tree Program. This is where children's names and ages are written on angel decorations and hung on a Christmas tree in the chapel. Members of the different congregations can pick an angel and buy a gift for that child. When it is time, the gifts are brought to the chapel for the first sergeants to deliver to the appropriate families.

Operation Warm Heart runs with the help of donations from the Kadena Enlisted Spouses Club, American Women's Welfare Association, Kadena New Car Sales and the Kadena chapels. The chapels donated more than $10,000 to the program this year. The base commissary also donated items for the Thanksgiving food baskets.