A little historical perspective about HomeFires, Inc.

The dictionary definition includes “A fire burning in the hearth of a home. Frequently figurative and in figurative contexts, with allusion to the home or to family life in general”, and “To maintain one’s home; daily rituals and routines in the home or community, especially while one’s spouse or other housemates are away”.

Keep the Home Fires Burning (Til the Boys Come Home) is a great war anthem from England (WW1) composed in 1915 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHhHImlO8zI) And, even in Spartan times, fires on the beaches lit the way home for warriors returning….

When my son embarked on his Army career overseas (Baumholder, Germany) we supported him with mail, seasonal boxes, electronic messages, phone calls, and services that we could provide here in the states that he could not access from there (legal, insurance, forwarding mail, cell service, pet sitting, vehicle registration, vehicle battery installation, etc). He often brought up the fact that there were many soldiers that never received anything in the mail or indicated they had no family. He also remarked, many times, and we began doing some inquiry and research, about the suicide rate among active duty personnel, across the US military, not to mention Veterans.

Those who choose to serve this country deserve to be supported. HomeFires may only provide small tokens, but it is a place to start.

I wanted to develop a simple logo for HomeFires, and on a long distance phone call, I asked my Army son to help me. His response was that “his brother was a far better artist, and I should seek his talents”. I persisted (although his brother is, indeed, a fine artist) and kept describing to him what I envisioned and by the end of our phone call, he sent me what I had “tricked him” into creating. I was also pressed for time at that point, still working my full-time, head-of-school stint, so we decided on a hybrid of his work, the blue star (very important) and the fireplace at Amy Kay.

We are now working with real graphic artists to develop a corporate logo and a merchandise logo. Stay tuned for updates on those!

To Test Our Theory!

We ran a small test project at Christmas time in 2020. We sent holiday socks (as they can be worn under the uniform without notice [out of regulation]) and baked goods and a note of support. We sent these things in care of our Army guy, BEAR, to distribute to one dozen soldiers. They LOVED them – such a small show of appreciation was received with great gusto, some tears, and many compliments. We were so excited to bring smiles. Thus, HomeFires was born.

Our First Big Project –

In February 2021, the first big project was sent overseas. 60 hand [machine crank] knit beanies, along with an old-school valentine and candy, were distributed in Baumholder to artillery members as well as EOD members.

So, we will see where this takes us. Our vision includes providing some of these services for service members, overseas. At the very least, folks will be able to sponsor a service member with 4 seasonal boxes in a year; but we are also trying to develop group or unit sponsorships. Christmas time, 2021, we sent five boxes overseas to a combination of Airforce service members and Navy.

And for any service member that does not have family – we got you! You can sign yourself up, or you can sign someone else up that needs some old fashion appreciation. As we continue to develop, you can also inquire to limited services that we may be able to help you with. This could be huge…and maybe we can make a difference for these guys and gals that have made a commitment that many can or will not.

Since the initial project of HomeFires, we are now a tax-exempt, official, not-for-profit corporation, with a full and operational board of directors, located in New Mexico. Reach out at homefiresinc.org@gmail.com