2025 Season of Sharing: DIY Holiday Ornament (Team or Family Event)

Create Holiday Ornaments for Military and Veterans through Soldiers' Angels

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​About This Volunteer Opportunity

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Every December, Soldiers’ Angels ships tens of thousands of stuffed holiday stockings to deployed service members and veterans. In 2025, USAA is sponsoring thousands of both stockings and care packages.

Celebrating the holiday season in a tent thousands of miles from home or a bare hospital room without any family can be very difficult. We want to make those stockings even more personal and provide some festive holiday decor, we also include handmade holiday ornaments attached to each stocking. Can you help us by creating a holiday ornament. Help us make those stockings even more meaningful with a hand-made holiday ornament.

Each ornament will be attached to a stuffed holiday stocking donated by one of the individuals or businesses supporting the Holiday Stockings for Heroes campaign. The stockings will be shipped to deployed service members around the globe and hand-delivered to veteran patients in VA Hospitals across the country.

NOTE: This volunteer event is approved for teams to conduct onsite at USAA and the only team volunteer event besides letter writing, that you do not need to submit separately in USAA Serves for approval. If you want teams to sign up for automatic hour logging, hit the duplicate button above to create with your details and we will approve as a private event to share and volunteer hours will auto log.

Use this event to log your hours. Materials purchased to facilitate this opportunity must be donated by leaders or purchased individually by each teammate participating to bring in for the team event. No pooling funds or corporate cards should be used to purchase materials unless a leader approves G&A dollars under $500 only to purchase materials. No reclassing, no purchasing materials directly from the nonprofit or no contributions made to nonprofits via Accounts Payable or Corporate Card allowed.

Leaders with a larger need can submit a request to the SVP of Corporate Communications and Responsibility via usaaserves@usaa.com.

How to participate:

1. Use your creativity and skills to make ornaments! From painted wood ornaments to beaded wreaths and everything in between, your ornaments can be anything you’d like. We have a few guidelines below, but otherwise, up to you.

2. The ornaments you create need to be durable, non-breakable, and able to last through the long journey to their final destination.

3. Requirements: Ornaments should have NO glitter. Please… NO Glitter!! Not breakable, Nothing dangerously sharp and Nothing made out of food/candy

4. Need ideas for supplies? Visit the Soldiers' Angels DIY Holiday Ornament Amazon Wishlist to get your family or team on the right track

5. Team Event: Teammates or Leaders do a good thing by paying for materials/supplies to each bring in for assembly (no pooling funds or corporate cards should be used. See above guidance). Duplicate this volunteer event with your team's specific time/day for final approval. 

6. Set up time for your family or team to engage in creating/decorating holiday ornaments

7. Finally, drop off directly if in San Antonio or ship your completed ornaments to the headquarters in San Antonio: Soldiers’ Angels Holiday Ornaments; 2895 NE Loop 410, Suite 10; San Antonio, Texas 78218

 

To participate and track your volunteer time with this activity, log in to your USAA Serves account.

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Don’t forget to record your hours in USAA Serves to earn rewards for your Giving Account. Log in for more details.

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Disclosure: According to USAA's Solicitation &Distribution policy, Support for Our Communities policy and Volunteer Guidelines, all volunteer events promoted using USAA's resources or channels must be approved by Corporate Responsibility in USAA Serves. Collections of items, Drives (food, coats, books, etc.), Fundraisers, onsite volunteer care package assemblies unless facilitated or approved by CR, Solicitation for donations, go fund me pages, etc. are strictly prohibited.