An official Army release highlights the military chapel congregations at Fort Stewart, GA, and Hunter Army Airfield who worked with their local commissaries to help offset expenses for local military families:

As part of a longstanding tradition, chaplains gave their religious congregations the opportunity to give what is called a “designated offering…”

“This is a tradition that shows the generosity of our members, and this year they contributed $21,151,” said Master Sgt. John Proctor, 3rd Infantry Division Chaplain noncommissioned officer in charge.

More than 400 soldiers and families benefited from the program.

To help them know where the generosity came from, a card was included with the voucher:

A card was attached to each voucher noting that this gesture was made possible by the religious congregations of Hunter Army Airfield and Fort Stewart and welcomed the recipients to join their religious congregations.

This differentiates these efforts from that of past times. In past times, it was generally assumed that these contributions were made by the Army because the efforts were not clearly identified.

That a military chapel community would think to support their peers and local troops, and that they could provide more than $20,000 to that end, speaks to the generosity and spirit of faithful service in those faith communities.

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