Support Our Troops With the Comforts of Home and Marie Callender’s

I’m excited to be a part of sharing about the Comforts of Home project from Marie Callender’s! As you know, Marie Callender’s creates homemade meals and desserts. These are made with high-quality ingredients and signature special touches. They can sure make a quick meal and/or dessert possible!  We live in an area of Tennessee that has a National Guard Armory. Many of our friends and neighbors are enlisted and have been deployed. So, when I learned about the Comforts of Home project, I knew that I had to share this information with you!

The Comforts of Home project is a partnership with the United Service Organizations (USO) that’s dedicated to bringing the heartwarming feelings, flavors, and favorites of home to those who miss it most. Talking with a friend whose husband has been deployed for months at a time several times, she says that being deployed is tough, but hardest during the holidays. The USO Operation Celebration program is dedicated to provide a “home away from home” for our deployed troops stationed around the world to make sure every holiday, small or large, is celebrated. I love that this program ensures that our troops have a place to celebrate every holiday, with or without their families, bringing the comforts of home that can often be taken for granted, such as seasonal meals, company, entertainment, and a chance to relax.

The way the Comforts of Home project works is simple- simply purchase specially-marked packages of Marie Callender’s meals and desserts. Then visit Comforts of Home online  and enter the code found on the back of the box. Marie Callender’s will make a $.50 donation to the USO Operation Celebration program for each code entered, up to $300,000*. That’s a LOT of comfort!

Did you know that last year, with your overwhelming support, Marie Callender’s brought care packages to a very deserving group of servicemen and women stationed overseas through a $250,000 donation to the USO2GO program? Great job!

This project runs from September 1, 2015 through January 29, 2016. There are more than 51 million specially-marked Marie Callender’s frozen meals or desserts. Each code entered online equals a $0.50 donation to the USO.

One thing that we’ve done, as a family, is to take a meal to an enlisted family. It’s a very small gesture of thanks, but one that we enjoy doing. Marie Callender’s makes this so simple. We can take a meal at a moment’s notice and the family can enjoy it when they’re ready. I like to make up homemade garlic bread for such occasions. Leave instructions that say, “to serve, simply bake it during the last 15 minutes (25 if frozen) of the baking time of the Marie Callender’s main dish that you have delivered.” Add a simple salad and a frozen Marie Callender’s dessert, and you have a complete meal in minutes.

Simply combine a stick of butter with 3-4 TB garlic powder and 1 TB parsley.

Spread garlic butter onto each slice of a loaf of Italian bread.

Stack the slices back up.

Wrap tightly in foil (can be frozen at this point.)

If you can’t take them a meal, let Marie Callender’s Comforts of Home project do that for you. Better yet, enter the codes found on your own Marie Callender’s tasty entrees and desserts so that the project can grow and touch more service men and women!

Visit Marie Callender’s Comforts of Home to find a list of participating Marie Callender’s products and see how many codes have been entered to date with the real-time code tracker.

In addition, the Comforts from Home Project is partnering again with Scripps Networks to give deserving military families touches of home within 3 popular TV shows: Guys Grocery Games (Food Network), Kitchen Crashers (HGTV and DIY Network) and Hello Goodbye (Travel Channel). Each program offers a unique way to give back to those who defend our homes every day.You can view those shows during the times listed in the photo below:

You can connect with Marie Callender’s on their social media channels as well- Pinterest and Facebook. Check out the hashtag #ComfortsFromHome to see what others are saying about this great project! And be sure to visit the real-time tracker to see just how high that number has grown!

*For every entry by 1/29/2016 of an 8-digit code found on participating products, Marie Callender’s will donate $.50 to the USO Operation Celebration program. Guaranteed minimum donation: $100,000. Maximum donation: $300,000. Limit 5 code entries per person/computer each day. Valid in U.S. Only.

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.