National Charity League District 10 wins national recognition for their 'Military Family Day' project

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Texas --National Charity League (NCL) District 10 was recognized nationally for their ‘Military Family Day’ project which involved the combined efforts of the 16 chapters comprised of 4,300 members that make up the district.

“There was a slim chance of winning,” said Anna Anklam. “There are over 50,000 members in NCL. We were pleasantly surprised when we received word notifying us that we had won.”

The combined efforts of Anklam and Elaine Fischer, working with all the District 10 NCL chapters, put together the event with activities for military personnel and their families with a zero budget. Kroger supplied the food; volunteer, John Mercer, provided his culinary skills in cooking and preparing the food.

The event was truly a community outreach effort to show appreciation to our military for their service. Home Depot provided ‘build-it’ projects, inflatables were set up for the children, and the military families went home loaded down with donated baked goods. It was this outpouring of community support that set the District 10’s project apart from other national initiatives.

“We heard the deciding factor was the community involvement we incorporated into the event,” said Anklam.

The event included 470 military personnel and their family members. All total, 700 attended the event; the largest military family project to date for the area NCL chapters who have coordinated ‘Family Day’ on numerous occasions.

Comments from those in attendance included:

“Plenty of fun for the whole family. My children loved the bouncees. I have been in the military for over 10 years and never been to a family day like that!”

“We are greatly thankful for everyone’s time and hard work to make this happen. Soldiers have already asked when are we are going to do this again. They have all said that this was the best family day they have ever been to, and will make sure next time to bring their families if they know NCL is involved.”

“We appreciated the no ‘out-of-pocket’ expense for the soldiers and the ability to partake in the activities instead of in the past, where we have to manage the activities and resources ourselves. This gave us the chance to enjoy the time with our loved ones and we greatly appreciated that.”