Last Updated on November 22, 2023 by Luke Feldbrugge
Founded in 2009 by military spouses with military families in mind, Blue Star Families empower families to thrive by connecting them with their civilian neighbors; including both people and organizations, to create strong, vibrant communities of mutual support. Frequent moves and deployments make it challenging for military families to establish community roots. Blue Star Families is helping military families overcome these challenges. As of today, since 2009, the benefits distributed by Blue Star Families exceeds $158 million provided for military families, and that includes support for over 1.5 million family members served annually.
Blue Star Families Grant Check Presentation with Jay Flynn
In recognition of Military Family Appreciation Month, the Homes for Heroes Foundation awarded the Blue Star Families a $25,000 hero grant to provide support for The Staten Island Food Closet makeover, stocking and re-opening.
Jay Flynn, Foundation Director with Homes for Heroes, meets with Erica Newhouse, Executive Director, New York Tri-State, Blue Star Families and Regina Cristodero, Senior Loan Consultant and Homes for Heroes Mortgage Specialist to briefly discuss Blue Star Families and how the funds received from the Homes for Heroes Foundation grant will assist their initiatives.
You can watch the full interview here or read the transcript of the interview below.
Jay: Hello and thanks for joining us today. Jay Flynn, director of the Homes for Heroes Foundation. And I’m joined today by Erica Newhouse. She’s the executive director of the New York Tri-State Blue Star Families. And I also have Regina Cristodero Homes for Heroes mortgage specialist with New Rez. Erica and Regina, I’m honored to be here with both of you today.
As part of the Homes for Heroes Circle of Giving, the Homes for Heroes Foundation provides grants to nonprofits whose missions are to help our heroes who are in dire need. Erika, Regina and I are so happy to present this $25,000 Homes for Heroes Foundation grant to Blue Star Families. Congratulations!
Erica: Thank you, Jay. I mean, this is incredible. It’s a really joyful day for us. Thank you so much. On behalf of myself and my colleague, Consuela Rodriguez, and everybody from the Star families.
Jay: Absolutely. Homes for Heroes and the Homes for Heroes Foundation is honored to be able to assist you guys. So let’s take a few minutes to talk about Blue Star families and what you do to serve our heroes. Give us a little bit of history on Blue Star Families and how it came to be.
Erica: So from the start, Blue Star Families was founded in 2009, and we’re about to celebrate our 15th anniversary next year. And it was founded by military spouses who saw there was a need for military family support.
The service member might have a lot of resources and support during their service. But when families are involved, with permanent change of station, and moving from one place to another every 2 to 3 years can be hard for a spouse to find employment, to enroll kids into school, find a hairdresser, or to connect with local activities and meet new friends.
Gold Star Families was founded to support the entire family. And we also do incredible research and policy work to make sure we’re not just working on the local level, but we’re looking at the bigger picture as well.
Jay: So, Regina, listening to Erika talk about what Blue Star Families is doing to support our military and our military families, how does that resonate with you as one who serves military members and their families as a Homes for Heroes mortgage specialist?
Regina: First of all, thank you for having me here today and I’m definitely excited to be part of this great mission to help your organization. Coming from a father who was in the military, a couple of uncles, and currently a brother-in-law, I definitely know the effect it has on families; you know as my sister-in-law struggles when he goes away and she tries to get everything under control.
On the mortgage end, it’s a great way for me to be able to help my heroes by giving them some discounts on their mortgage fees. Even just being there for them, to help them through the whole process, on the way to becoming a homeowner.
Jay: Yeah, that’s what Home for Heroes does, right? We serve heroes and we serve them through real estate specialists and mortgage specialists. So we’re honored to be able to do that.
So, Erica, supporting families of our service members and veterans is a huge part of Blue Star Families’ mission. So, you have a lot of resources, and you mentioned a couple of things, but tell us a little bit more about your resources.
Erica: Sure. We have a variety of programs, and they vary from Chapter to Chapter. We have 11 Chapters across the country, and programs that serve the needs of each Chapter. We also have national partnerships, for example with Starbucks, and “Starbucks Coffee Connect”, where spouses can come during the day to connect and meet people in their communities while enjoying a free cup of coffee. That is an example of a very straightforward program we have that is hugely impactful because it leads to further connections.
We have outdoor hiking and fishing trips, specifically my chapter in upstate New York with the branch out of Jersey. We offer things like sports tickets and family fun days. We help with spouse employment, and we have some fellowships for spouses as well.
We support children by connecting them with educational resources in their local communities.
And then in our chapter, with my background in arts and culture, we’re finding lots of offerings like Broadway tickets and training, and writing workshops.
We’re giving people a variety of opportunities to engage with their community.
Jay: Yeah, that’s awesome. And you know, Regina and I are so excited that Homes for Heroes is a partner with Blue Star Families.
Erica: Likewise, we’re very grateful for your support. And as you know, Blue Star Families itself has grown so much over the years. We value our partnerships because we cannot do this work alone. I work with other organizations and nonprofits and VSOs. So our partner’s support is everything.
Jay: The Homes for Heroes Foundation is honored to support Blue Star Families with this $25,000 grant. And, I know you have a special project that this money’s going toward called, the Staten Island Food Pantry. Tell us a little bit more about that.
Erica: Well, we DO have a special project. There is a military spouse, Maria Reed, and she has a program called, Moving with the Military, which she started as an active duty military spouse. And she’s done six activations with Blue Star Families in the past. I think all of the ones with us have been family home makeovers for active duty military or veterans.
We approached her (Maria) regarding our food pantry at Fort Wadsworth, which is mostly Coast Guard, and the building is quite old. The pantry started out as a very grassroots post-COVID effort with mismatched shelving and old cabinetry and refrigerators that have now become too small. But we wanted to have a pantry that honors the service of our families that we serve.
The moment Maria heard we wanted to do a makeover of the pantry, she was all in. Support has been pouring out from the community, with people wanting to redo the flooring, electricians helping with lighting and fixtures, refrigerators getting donated and things like that.
We’ve also been working hand in hand with the Coast Guard and they’re beyond thrilled and excited for the pantry.
For me, it feels like when you’re at a party and everybody just wants to be in the kitchen, it’s sort of the beating heart of this chapter, and that makes sense to me because this is a community home, food, family, friends and culture all in one.
It is also bringing awareness to the fact that 25% of our active duty military families experience food insecurity at some point during their service. This project isn’t just about serving the families at Fort Wadsworth and bringing in more support, but instead it’s about bringing awareness so more food pantries can pop up around the country and support other military bases and connect to families.
Jay: Wow. That’s wonderful. For those watching this video and who want to learn more about Blue Star families, how can they do that?
Erica: Well, they start by visiting Blue Star Families website. You can go to the website and sign up to be a volunteer at this chapter, or in your area. We have a little locator to help you find the best location. You can donate. Or if you are a business, and you have something to offer; you want to hire veterans, or you want to hire a military spouse, or even theater tickets that you want to give away, you can reach out to Blue Star Families and find a chapter in your area to connect with.
Jay: Awesome. Erika, Regina, thank you guys for taking time out of your day to join me today. And everything that Blue Star Families is doing is so wonderful.
For those tuning in to hear more about Blue Star families, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Be sure to tune in to future episodes to hear more about all the nonprofits that the Homes for Heroes Foundation partners with nationwide to support our heroes.
And I hope everyone has a great rest of your day. And remember, just take a minute today to say thank you to a hero.
Homes for Heroes Circle of Giving
Grants from the Homes for Heroes Foundation are made possible by the Homes for Heroes Circle of Giving and its network of real estate and mortgage professionals. Homes for Heroes, Inc. is committed to providing savings to community heroes; such as firefighters, EMS, law enforcement, military (active duty, reserves and veterans), healthcare professionals and teachers.
To expand its Circle of Giving, Homes for Heroes, Inc., donates a portion of its earnings to the Homes for Heroes Foundation. So, every time a hero buys or sells a home using the Homes for Heroes program, they are helping other heroes across the country facing a housing crisis or who are in need of urgent financial assistance.
If you are interested in learning more about how Homes for Heroes can guide you through the home buying, selling or refinancing process AND save you an average of $3,000 after closing, simply sign up to speak with a member of their team. They will follow up with you to answer all of your questions. When you tell them you’re feeling ready to speak with their local specialists in your area about home buying, selling, or refinancing, they will connect you with their local specialists to begin the process.
Simply visit the Homes for Heroes Foundation page if you’re interested in learning more about where it has awarded recent grants to hero organizations throughout the country, how much they’ve awarded to date, and how it all works.
If you’re interested in supporting and donating to the Homes for Heroes Foundation to assist heroes in need, please visit their donation page to submit your contribution via PayPal. And, thank you for your interest and support.
Thank you for watching another Homes for Heroes Foundation grant video about the impact it is making nationally and in local hero communities, along with hero supporting nonprofits who use the grant dollars they receive to assist the heroes they serve.
Don’t forget to subscribe to the Homes for Heroes YouTube channel to get notified of the new hero grants awarded by the Homes for Heroes foundation.
