Nancy Vaniman of MISSION UNITED (L) and Kathleen Cannon, President & CEO of United Way of Broward County (R) presented holiday gifts to the Trin.

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL -- MISSION UNITED, as part of the United Way Give the Gift of Hope program, presented holiday gifts to local veterans and military families at United Way of Broward County’s offices in Fort Lauderdale throughout the week of December 17th.  Through the program, ten families were adopted by different companies or organizations and received donated gifts for the holidays.  Seven of those families are a part of MISSION UNITED’s veteran program which helps Broward’s military veterans and their families re-acclimate to civilian life.

During the event, Kathleen Cannon, President/CEO of United Way of Broward County and Nancy Vaniman, Commander U.S. Navy (Retired), Director of MISSION UNITED, presented gifts to several of the recipients.  This included presenting over $300 in gift cards (to various clothing and toy stores) to U.S. Marine Core veteran Dylan Howerton and his daughter.  Dylan, who served two tours in Afghanistan, is a single father who is currently attending the Fort Lauderdale Art Institute for Photography. Donations to Dylan’s family were provided by Frito Lay as part of the holiday toy drive.

Cannon and Vaniman also presented gifts to Ora Cunningham, the mother of U.S. petty officer, Anna Cunningham, who is currently deployed in Afghanistan and has two children ages three and six.  Since Anna is a single mother in the military, her mother, Ora (the children’s grandmother) is now the caregiver to the children.  Ora received toys, games and over $200 in gift cards to various clothing stores and toy stores for the children.  Gifts were donated by staff members from United Way of Broward County as part of the holiday toy drive from United Way’s Give the Gift of Hope program.

Other veterans from the US Navy and their families that took part in the United Way Give the Gift of Hope program through MISSION UNITED are CS2 Xavier Delarosa and Aracelis Delarosa who have three children and was adopted by United Way of Broward County; DC2 (SW) Francisco Martinez Garcia and Yohandra Martinez  who have two children; EN2 Patrick Henry and Shelley Henry who have four children and was adopted by ABB Concise; LS1 Titus Gibson and Michelle Gibson  who have one child; and Michelle Trinidad who has six children and was also adopted by ABB Concise.

Nancy Vaniman, Commander U.S. Navy (Retired), Director of MISSION UNITED, (left) presented holiday gifts to the Gibson Family.

The Howerton Family received holiday gifts from MISSION UNITED.

About MISSION UNITED
United Way of Broward and the American Red Cross have partnered to create MISSION UNITED, a community based initiative convening and aligning public and private resources in Broward County to support veterans and their families in transitioning from military service back to civilian life.  MISSION UNITED’S goal is to assist the more than 110,000 veterans living in Broward County re-acclimate to civilian life.  For more information contact 954-4-UNITED or go to www.MISSIONUNITED.org.