Gorham-based military gift program grows

Westbrook, Maine, American Journal
www.keepmecurrent.com/Community/story.cfm?storyID=57712

GORHAM—When Julie Graffam's 10-year-old son Nicholas Sabasteanski attended a Portland Sea Dogs game in August as a gift from Operation Holiday Cheer, it was a bittersweet moment for the Buxton resident.

Graffam’s husband, Vincent Sabasteanski, died in a U.S. Marine helicopter crash in 1999 during a training exercise in Oceanside, Calif., along with seven other Marines, when Nicholas was 2. While the pain of her husband’s death will never leave, those three hours at Hadlock Field in Portland brought her to tears.

“That was a tough but nice moment to see my son at the game,” said Graffam. “It was difficult knowing that Vincent wasn’t there, but at the same time it was special knowing my son, thanks to Operation Holiday Cheer, was enjoying this day.”

Operation Holiday Cheer, begun last year, is the brainchild of the Kiwanis club in Gorham. It provides a holiday gift to each child of Maine’s military families for active or inactive members of any of the armed services branches, said Marc Badeau, chair of Operation Holiday Cheer.

The initiative this year is expanding its operations to every New England state and New York — through the cooperation of other Kiwanis clubs — giving families across the Northeast the same experiences that Graffam and her son had.

“This whole thing is an appreciation-based program and not a needs-based program,” Badeau said. “These kids have a huge sacrifice they are making and if the parent is not deployed, the children never know when they are going to come home and find that the parent is going to be deployed.”

Through the help of corporate and private sponsorships, Operation Holiday Cheer delivered more than 8,000 gifts to military children in 140 Maine cities in its first year. The recent growth could lead to nearly 65,000 delivered gifts through this holiday season, Badeau said.

“Eventually our goal is to expand nationally within the next three years,” Badeau said. “We definitely don’t think we’ve bitten off more than we can chew and the New York Giants and the NHL are now sponsors of the program.”

Operation Holiday Cheer will have a fundraising lunch at the Woodfords Club in Portland on Thursday at noon to raise awareness and support for its growth. U.S. Sen. Susan Collins will be a guest speaker, along with Maj. Gen. John Libby, the adjutant general of the Maine National Guard. The event is open to the public. Badeau said he expects about 100 to 125 people, mostly corporate sponsors, to attend.

“We’re gonna have a lot of people there,” Badeau said. “Maj. Gen. John Libby will give his impression of how valuable and how successful the program was last year.”

Graffam said she is hoping to volunteer her time because she thinks the program is a noble idea that helps families alleviate some of the pain and uncertainty of living a military life.

“It’s difficult living in that situation and it’s really hard on the kids,” said Graffam, who remarried in 2004. “This is a great program and I love it.”

All military families will receive a gift, Badeau said. The gifts can range from tickets to a Portland Sea Dogs game to teddy bears and dolls.

Badeau said sponsors who participate in the program aren't anonymous donors. Once corporations donate money or gifts, they get a click-through logo on the organization’s Web site that allows patrons to learn more about that company. In addition, each of the packages delivered have the names of the corporate sponsors listed.

“That helps a lot,” Badeau said. “The family can say now they know who’s going to take care of their families as sponsors and then they are going to patronize those establishments.”