Rancho Bernardo volunteers, groups among those supporting traveling military members

While traveling through San Diego International Airport during the holidays, more than 4,000 military personnel are receiving a special gift packed and distributed by local volunteers to say thank you for their service and sacrifices.

The seventh annual Waves of Appreciation Project was started in 2011 by Rancho Bernardo resident Reed Reichert after he reportedly met a young military member who was hungry and had not eaten in nine hours, but did not have enough money to purchase food while traveling. The situation was not an isolated case.

Reichert previously said he also noticed military personnel counting their pennies outside an airport’s McDonald’s in order to purchase food. He said it’s not right that service members have to count their pennies to buy food and went about fixing that situation.

With the help of several groups, Reichert collected donations and recruited volunteers to fill and distribute bags filled with snacks through the USO center at the San Diego airport. He said “tremendous support” came from the Los Rancheros Kiwanis Club in Rancho Bernardo, which each year provides financial support and dozens of volunteers to distribute the bags.

“In fact, the support from the Kiwanis coupled with the support from the Knights of Columbus at San Rafael Parish in RB have made Rancho Bernardo one of the best examples of community support for this program,” Reichert said. “It has been an honor for me to see (how) much our residents care for the young men and women who wear our nation’s cloth.”

Also instrumental in the effort since its inception was Pepperdine University’s San Diego Alumni Chapter. This year’s sponsors also include Jack Links, Metal Masters Inc., Pettit Kohn, St. Vincent de Paul in Fallbrook and Target. Among the scores of volunteers who on Veterans Day filled each cinch bag with 20 snack items and handwritten thank you notes were representatives of California Coast Credit Union.

Over the past six years, more than 24,000 bags have been distributed through the help of 1,000-plus volunteers, according to organizers.

“Long hours in airports, airport food prices and the absence of food on so many flights present challenges to the financial resources of our service members,” said Lauren Bullock, a Waves of Appreciation co-founder. “It has been an honor to convert these obstacles into an opportunity to thank our service members.”

“Since the inception of this program, (it) has continually made a real difference in the lives of military members during their holiday travel,” said Bobby Woods, director of the USO San Diego Neil Ash Airport Center. “San Diego is privileged to have one of the largest concentrations of military in its backyard, and during the holidays a great number travel through San Diego airport on their journey home.

“Many are young service members that do not make a lot of money, and after securing a ticket for their flight, there is little, if any, left to pay for food,” Woods said. “Pepperdine’s Waves of Appreciation recognized that gap and did what a community of a grateful nation would do.”

For details on how to donate to or volunteer for the 2018 project, go to wavesofappreciation.org.

Email: rbnews@pomeradonews.com