JACKSONVILLE, N.C. — The goal of the USO is to bring happiness, support and comfort to service members and families.

The oldest continually operating USO in the world is in Jacksonville, and it recently teamed up with Harris Teeter to help raise money to continue giving back through the company's "Round Up Campaign."

The campaign allows Harris Teeter customers to round up their transactions to the nearest dollar. That money helps support the USO in a number of different ways, including the financial support needed to continue providing "rack packs" to service members.

 

What You Need To Know

  • Rack packs are handed directly to the service member

  • Donations for programs such as the rack pack program are supported by donations, such as Harris Teeter's "Round Up Campaign"

  • Much of the work the USO does for military families is from the help of volunteers in the community

 

The USO rack packs are filled with items such a hygiene kits, chips and other individually wrapped items for service members when they leave or come back from deployment.

Long before she was the Center Operation Supervisor for the USO of Jacksonville, Marine spouse Megan Boggs felt first hand the impact the organization has on military families.

“I was a first-time mom, so I thought booking my plane ticket when my son was two months old was totally fine because I knew everything at that time, and our plane got delayed in Seattle, it was a terrible experience, and they actually told me, 'Head over to the USO, they'll take care of you,'” Boggs said.

Walking into the USO that day made her feel at home. She said the volunteers rushed over to her, helped her with her newborn baby and even provided her with a rack pack.

“I still, to this day, remember those volunteers and how they comforted me,” Boggs said.

She's proud to be able to return that feeling to others. One of her favorite parts of the USO is being able to provide the service members with rack packs.

She gets to see the joy on their faces when handing them directly to the service members.

“Some of them have families there and some of them don't and to be able to wave them off, to be able to hand them, I know it looks like a simple bag of chips, but just to let them know that we care, it just brings a good fuzzy feeling to everyone,” she said.

The packs mean even more now when coming back from deployment because of COVID-19 restrictions.

“These are a big deal when they're sitting on their beds, you get home, you know you're not going to be able to leave your room for 10 days, it just shows somebody cares,” Boggs said.

For the remainder of 2021, Boggs is going to ensure the staff and volunteers continue to carry on the legacy of the USO and find more ways to give that same feeling she once felt to active duty service members, veterans and their families.