MITH Podcast Episode 9: Giving Tuesday Military

Welcome back to Millspouse in the House. I'm your host, Christy Nix. I was an active duty army wife for 21 years. My husband and I have been married for 22 years. He just recently retired almost a year ago and we settled down in the Fort Stewart, Georgia area where I'm now the head trainer of our local Anytime Fitness after years of doing a virtual and online home-based business in the fitness space. Today we're talking about giving back to the military community and I am so excited about this conversation. Joining me are the three founders of Giving Tuesday Military, the initiative that encourages service members, veterans, and military families to support causes they care about and make a real difference. We're incredibly lucky to have all three founders of this initiative with us today. Army veteran spouse Maria Reed, Coast Guard spouse Jessica Manfrey, and National Guard spouse Samantha Gamoka. Today we're talking how these spouses connected, how they came up with the idea of Giving Tuesday Military and their nonprofit, the Inspire Up Foundation, and where things are for them now six years later. Ladies, we're excited to learn more, but first here is a quick rundown of the latest news impacting military families brought to you by Millspouses.com, a site built by military spouses for military spouses. The longest government shutdown in US history came to an end earlier this month. Service members didn't go without paychecks during that time due to some reshuffling of funds. PCS orders, official travel and separation, and retirements, which were halted during the shutdown, have resumed. However, if you're waiting on one of those things, expect some delays as government workers will need to work through some backlog. Now it's important to note this funding only lasts through the end of January. That means we could be facing another shutdown in a few months unless lawmakers pass another short-term extension or a full-year appropriations bill. Another thing we want to remind you guys, the DOD just rolled out new child care fees for school year 25-26, including a brand new top income tier for families earning over $175,000 a year. Most families won't see major changes, but higher earning households may pay more. Check your installation's rate chart to make sure you're paying the right amount. You can find updates like these, plus a helpful guide to navigating the holidays without your service member at home on Millspouses.com. The holidays can bring a lot of joy, but it can also be an incredibly stressful time of year. That's why it's important to take the time to invest in our mental well-being. For me, that sometimes means an extra workout or an extra time in my Bible study. But other times, because extra time is tough to come by, an option for a quick check-in via text to a Talkspace therapist. We'll be right back after a quick word from our sponsor, Talkspace. Having a military spouse comes with its challenges, but you don't have to navigate them alone. Welcome to Millspouse in the House, your go-to podcast for real talk, support, and community. And thanks to our sponsor, Talkspace, getting the mental health support you need is easier than ever. Talkspace is a secure, HIPAA-compliant therapy platform where you can connect with licensed therapists anytime, from anywhere. Now in the TRICARE network for all TRICARE recipients, for children 13 and up, retirees, veterans, and active-duty spouses. Because mental wellness is for the whole family. Visit Talkspace.com slash Millspouse today and take the first step toward support that fits your lifestyle. So today I am thrilled to welcome three powerhouse women, military spouses, leaders, and change makers who turned one small idea into a global movement of kindness and giving. They're the founders of Giving Tuesday Military and the Inspire Up Foundation. Organizations that remind us that generosity is contagious and the world can be a more beautiful and kind place when we work together. And please help me welcome Maria Reid, Jessica Manfrey, and Samantha Gamocca. Okay, ladies, before we talk about the amazing work you're doing within the military community, let's get to know each of you. Tell us a little bit about yourselves, what branch you're connected to, and how long you've been a military spouse and where you're stationed. And so Maria, I'm going to call on you first. Awesome. Thanks for having us. We really do appreciate it. So we are an army family. My husband actually just retired out of the army all of five months ago. So it's still very new and transition is real. I ain't gonna lie, transition is real, but we're, you know, finding our footing and figuring out all the things. And I'm also a military mom. Our son has been in, did a little over a year now, which is not mind-blowing, but yeah, we're living the dream. That's what I can say. Yeah, that's amazing. And where are you located right now? We're in Texas, so just outside of Fort Hood. Okay. Okay. Awesome. And Jessica. Well, hello. Thank you for having us. I am a Coast Guard spouse. My husband has been in 24 years, almost 25 years. I've been with him for 20 of those. So it has been a wild ride. We're currently stationed outside of Elizabeth city, North Carolina, and we are actually staying here. He'll be retiring next June, June of 2026. We built a house in Camden and we absolutely love it. A little bit about me. My God. Well, I'm obviously obsessed with books. So, you know, if you're watching the video there, there are a ton of books I love to read. I love to hike, be outdoors. I'm also a practicing therapist and I do military events for an amazing brand, Recurrent Ventures. So we have Mill Spouse Fest and we have Military Influencer Conference. I'm like ingrained in all of this. I don't even know a life outside of this community and it's fantastic. That's amazing. I love that. And for the audience that's listening, if you can't see, she literally has like the most beautiful bell, like little library with the ladder for all of her books. It's gorgeous. All right, Ms. Samantha, you're up. Yes. So I am a National Guard family, but it's a tumultuous journey, right? So my husband finished his 20 years active duty. We have been together for 21 years. He's been in for 26 years. We are in Buffalo, New York. I am a physician assistant by trade and have started a women's health and menopause centered practice focused on giving appropriate female care to our spouses and military members. So that's been my passion project that I've been working diligently on and have received so much support within the military space. So I think we all live, we walk the walk and talk the talk and we're all integrated on many different levels. So it's been a incredible journey with these ladies. I love that. I love that each of you are also unique in your own places of purpose and power, but that obviously what you're going to share with us as we get into this is the three of you together have created a ripple even bigger than maybe we could do individually. So let's, let's get into that. So you know, you're all connected through different service branches and you don't live in the same states. So how did all of this come to be? How do you know one, one another? Oh my gosh. So in 2019, each of us was nominated for military spouse of the year and we won for our perspective branch branches. So, you know, army coast guard and national guard, and you know, when you just meet those people that are just the other part of your soul, basically that that's really what it was. And we were on a trip together as a part of this award and sitting in a room and trying to think about how we could unite the military community in some form or fashion. We had a meeting with giving Tuesday headquarters and told them our idea, which was, okay, listen, we don't want to fundraise. We know giving Tuesday can be amazing. It's great for nonprofits. I mean, the good that it does is fabulous, but we've got this little thing called the military and we're all over the world. What if we flip the script and we activate ambassadors to do acts of service? And that's, that's really where it started. And it just went bananas that first year. Obviously we had no idea that it was going to turn into, you know, COVID lockdown right after. So it was like, you know, we, we finished up giving Tuesday, giving Tuesday military is our campaign name. And we were like, okay, we don't want this to be one day. We want this to be giving always, which led to, you know, us forming our nonprofit. And we were scheduled to launch our nonprofit on April 1st of 2020. So the project that we had, which was, you know, based around a month of the military child, we made a little stuffed hearts out of old uniforms for kids. We were going to do it together. We had all these, you know, plans for these group parties. It was all remote with masks and mailing things. And it was just wild. But you know what? I don't think any of us would change it. That year was, was exactly what Inspire Up needed to be. So yeah, but that's, that's where its roots are. That's amazing. So you guys were never in the same place at the same time, other than at the military spouse of the year event. Yeah. The first, the first time we met was May of 2019. That was when we received our award, spent some days, a few days together. And there was some travel involved in that award. And so that first travel event in Kansas City is where we met officially for the second time. And like, at that point we were like, all right, we're blood sisters, like, let's go. That's amazing. As military spouses, right, like we just, we don't have time to waste, not like heart to heart right away. Right. Like, I want your heart. I'm going to give you mine and it's going to be a fit or it's not, but, um, but you were already obviously women who were serving the military community, right. To be nominated for that award, receiving that award, you had already walked into the room of other spouses that have equally done the same thing. So that's really cool that your hearts were already primed for service. Um, and you knew that about each other. Well, tell us a little bit about giving Tuesday military, um, in the beginning, like what was the need? Um, how did it come to life? I know you told us a little bit about how you guys met and that it started in 2020, which was obviously a hard year, but at its core, um, what is the mission? Maria, I'll let you take that one. Okay. Thank you. I think we sort of, you know, just piggybacking on what she said before, we kind of thrive in chaos. We've been apart and then these things happen and we're just going to, we're going to do it. We're going to do it. And part of what you said, how did all of this come together in that very first year? We're like, we're going to do 2 million acts of kindness. Okay. That's such a random number and such a lofty goal, but we didn't realize, at least I don't think I did, that how powerful the military community is and how quickly it started that by the time it was 8am in the United States, there had already been what, like 30,000 acts of kindness that had already begun over in Okinawa in Japan. And we had ambassadors from all over the world, military families, military connected and just patriotic supporters, people who wanted to be a part of the movement because the mission of Giving Tuesday Military is to spread kindness to military and to non-military. And it doesn't have to cost a thing. And I think that's where we've always been. Being nice is free. You don't have to put a penny into that. And that's what we want people to take with them. You can do something good, whatever your good is. And it's never too small because sometimes I think folks have asked us, well, I don't have a big community and I'm not putting together these big, it doesn't matter, big, small, one act, whatever it is that you can do, you could change someone's life that day. You may not have even known it. So I think that's kind of what we preach with moving with the military. Excuse me. There's your first edit. Sorry. Well, hey, listen, Maria didn't sing her own praises, but I will. She has run a show and a series called Moving with the Military for, am I wrong, nine years? It'd be nine years in January. Yeah. Nine years in January. And she goes around doing makeovers for active military and veteran families. So she also has a history of being a producer for MTV. She's not even, listen, there's so much, so much that she's not telling you about her life. It's the way back. It's the way back. Because I care about this life, maybe, but yes, the mission of Giving Tuesday Military has always been to give, to be kind, to do good, to be a good human. And that first year was incredibly powerful, and I think it's just grown and kind of become a life of its own with all the different ambassadors we have across the country. And if one of you could help me answer this question, are we in all 50 states, the proclamation or how many states did we have governor proclamations for Giving Tuesday Military? I know I just asked that question. We had ambassadors in every state and four countries, I believe. As far as proclamations, we didn't achieve 50 states on that, but we did have representation. Yet. Yet. So tell us a little bit about what these ambassadors are doing and how they are capturing the acts of service and the giving on that particular day so that you guys are keeping, obviously, account of these acts of service and these acts of kindness. How is that being shown to you? Sam, want to tackle that? So the first year when we were flying the plane while building it, I think that it remains very special because the ambassadors who signed up walked alongside us based off a vision, based off of passion. We had no numbers or data or history to look back on to prove that we were a success. We were three new friends who were committed to reaching an insane goal. By that time, we had met three times and we're like, yes, we're going to do this. So that remains so special to me that first year. We calculated our acts of kindness by spreadsheets. We have a lot of teacher and educators who join us and they're very organized. We had hashtag following on Instagram and different social media platforms. And the first year when we did receive 2.5 million acts of kindness by Giving Tuesday, that was tracked by their headquarters, by our social media impressions and acts counted. Since that point, I think the movement has grown, but also we focused on what is the impact and can you really track that? When we say if you change a moment, you can change a day, which can change a life. We can't really put value on what holding a door open would be for somebody, struggling with a baby or a stroller, or what an intentional hello can do to someone who just feels so alone. The price of allowing somebody to feel seen is just, you can't measure that impact. So I think we've relaxed a little bit in our accounting. I don't know if I can say that out loud. But I think after that first year, we had our goal, which we met and exceeded, but it was the stories. It was the reconnecting with the ambassadors that night, where the ambassadors shared what their personal experience was doing the acts of kindness, putting mittens on bushes for people to find, giving out items to a food pantry, delivering food to our local law enforcement departments. Those acts changed not only the ambassador's lives, but the recipient's as well. And so when we saw the magic, and I don't think that there's any other word besides magic, we knew that we needed to keep the main thing, the main thing. And the main thing was acts of kindness and service and paying it forward. That's amazing. That's amazing. So you started in 2019 with this big law fee goal. You said building the plane while we're in it. I love that analogy. So tell our listeners how it's grown. So it's been six years now. You went through 2020, which is a hard year to start anything for anybody. How has all of this grown up until now? Who's it now? Am I tagged? Am I in? Yeah. Tag, you're it. So technically, it started in 2019. So that was the first year. And then the nonprofit was launched in 2020. So just, you know, four or five months later. In terms of how it's grown, I think the most exciting thing is the fact that people know what it means and what it is, right? There's a lot of Giving Tuesday campaigns out there that are people are like, oh, my God, they do amazing things like Giving Tuesday Charlotte, like I know what they do for their community because I've heard about it even long before I moved to North Carolina. And so I think that's been the coolest thing is going around because I'm at different events, you know, all year long. And when I mentioned Giving Tuesday military, they're like, oh, yeah, like I knew someone that started a blood drive one year where I knew someone that did this on our base. And like, that is so profound for me. It's like Sam said, like she was just talking about how we've relaxed, but what she really meant is like, I'm not as crazy. I mean, I saw her pointing at you, but I'm kidding. I was so crazy that first year and probably the second year too, as we were building a nonprofit because I just, you know, we had this vision and for me, I'm an eldest daughter, you know, I just feel this need to succeed. Like I just I can't help myself. And a very dear friend of ours, Krista Simpson Anderson, she looked at me one day in 2021 and she said, if you close your doors tomorrow, does that mean that everything that you did before was worthless, that it didn't matter? And she was getting me to realize that, you know, even if, you know, five, 10 years from now, you know, we hang up our hat, right, and we pass it on to someone else or whatever it looks like, that doesn't negate everything that's ever happened. And I don't have to run this crazy race. So she met me. I was the crazy. I have relaxed the spreadsheets and the things, you know, we are really blessed in that we have had national attention every year, whether it was the Kelly Clarkson show, whether it was, you know, being on Jenna and Hoda, you know, the Today Show or, you know, ABC, whatever it is. So like I know for a fact that our numbers are probably higher because when you when you're on a media, you know, when you have a national media opportunity and you're talking about, hey, like all you need to do is leave a kind note for someone or open a door or I mean, there's so many little things you can do. We don't know the ripple effect of just talking about it to that wide range of an audience. But at this point, we do ask our ambassadors if they could hashtag Giving Tuesday Military that allows us to search if they can track, you know, like if they're if they're raising, let's just say warm pajamas for foster kids, if they're tracking how many they raised out, that helps us, too. And we do try and get somewhat of a number because we do have on the nonprofit side, we have an amazing sponsor, the Armed Forces Financial Network. They give us a grant every year that allows us to get our ambassadors really cool swag. So they have new T-shirts and things to wear each year, but it also allows us to give out micro grants that she's got a shirt on right now. Maria has her do good shirt on. But we're, you know, we're able to give out micro grants because maybe maybe they need something special for whatever project they're trying to do in their community. And, you know, we want to help. You know, we had one year I can't think of what base it was. They wanted to make toiletry bags for girls in middle schools because we learned that a lot of girls don't come to school when they have their period. And so I was like, oh, my gosh, like we have to jump on this. And so that was a part of our grant cycle. It doesn't have to cost a thing. But you know what? If you've got a really big idea and you want some help, we're going to jump in and help you. Yeah. I think just to hop on your idea or statement, Jess, another way that I've seen that we've grown, which has been so impactful, is that the movement has taken on a life of its own. And I've noticed that my son last year planned a holiday card making event. There's this incredible nonprofit Veterans Last Patrol that makes holiday cards for veterans in hospice. And to see him, I didn't participate to see him command an entire cafeteria of over a hundred students willing to give up their time after school to write the cards, to collect the cards, reading the messages inside. It just it was the next generation kind of took it and ran with it. I was on Facebook this week and one of my good friends from college, she was posting about Giving Tuesday Military. She's an educator. She's participated the last six years. She did it without me prompting, without me sharing, without me asking. That's part of her tradition now with her classes. And so to see an idea that started within the three of us move on, much like the ripple that you talked about, it's taken on a life of its own. And it's really beautiful to witness that. Absolutely. Maria, what did you want to add? I was going to say a lot of the same thing. So thank you, Sam. But one of the things that I've watched is some of the kids, when they started, how young they were and watching them grow within the movement and seeing them now in high school, in college and what they're doing and that they haven't forgotten this. This impacted them and that they want to continue. They are exactly what Sam said, the next generation. It's not that we're sitting back and not doing anything, but in a beautiful way, we are kind of sitting back and watching it grow and watching it blossom. And that that is absolutely priceless. I don't think it will ever end. GTM for life. And that's the beautiful thing about a vision, right? Because a vision is only as good as your ability to execute it. And getting the people involved and included just multiplies your vision in a way that the three of you never could, whether you all lived in the same state or not, because you've had a vision for what could happen and what could exist. And then you've empowered people to carry that vision out. And then that's the most beautiful thing about an amazing vision is if it ended tomorrow, like Jessica was saying, it wouldn't matter, right? Because the vision is now in people's hearts and they're going to take that seed and plant it somewhere else. And what a beautiful thing. This is so exciting. I love learning about this with you guys. And so that leads me into this next question. You've seen this movement touch thousands of lives and I've loved some of the stories you've already shared, but are there any moments and stories that stand out that really capture what this is all about for you? I'll start with one. One of our ambassadors, Julie Moser, who is a cancer survivor and she has a nonprofit, Pink Warrior Angels, every year she has teams across the country putting together cancer care kits and they go to hospitals. They go to chemo centers and they hand these out. But more than just handing out the kits, it's taking that time to talk with each person. I'm going to cry. OK, not going to cry. It's taking that time to talk with them and just listen. And that is so incredibly powerful. So every year when I see her and I watch this, I'm excited to see what is Pink Warrior Angels going to do next? What are they going to do to support cancer patients? So that's one that's always stood out to me. That's beautiful. Anyone else? Sam, go ahead. Your turn. I think one of our ambassadors that has really stepped up in even just recent days is Monica Bassett with Stronghold Food Pantry, and she has been with our organization for several years. She runs a food pantry not only in her home state, but she has mobilized ambassadors across the country, has utilized services like Walmart food delivery, particularly not only in the Giving Tuesday military season, but in the recent shutdown. She has lifted so many families up facing food insecurity that she is not only changing lives, but she is saving lives. And we were fortunate this past summer to be ambassadors of Stronghold. So we participated in bringing groceries to different military families and to be welcomed into their home and to hold their cat and to exchange a few minutes of meaningful conversation, to see that exchange and be privileged enough to be part of it. I don't even have words. I don't have words, but yet it filled the conversation in the car for the rest of the day. It's just it's hard to comment on how it affects you at your root level. These are families who are giving so much and sacrificing and to be in a position where they need just a little bit of help. I don't know, Maria, you were there, help me on this, because it just changes you at a molecular level. It does. It really it I mean, all three of us, one of those times that we were all together, we were all together in Fort Campbell doing this and just watching the there was just such beauty in being able to give. But it was about being present in the moment for that family. And the food's great. Don't get me wrong. That's what we need. We need the sustenance. But being present for that family and being able to talk with them, like you said, for just a few minutes, that was the change that it was like somebody really not just saw me, but someone understood me. And I think coming from military and giving to the military community, that really it made such an impact, not just on them, but on us. Yeah, I think it left such a lasting impact. Yeah. The food is sustenance, but the fellowship is feeding their soul. Right. And so I think that is what you guys are saying. It is so intoxicating about this vision and then from the vision and opportunity and from the opportunity, just the ripple of how you're filling people's souls and meeting them where they're at. So that's absolutely beautiful. So much growth for sure. So so let's talk about the why. Right. So, OK, we're taking food, filling bellies, but we're also filling hearts and souls. What drives you?