This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Community Corner

A Great Gift: Charter Brings Military Men and Women Home for the Holidays

The company features servicemen and women who are serving overseas in holiday greeting videos, available On Demand for Charter customers in metro St. Louis.

Many metro St. Louis families are celebrating this holiday season without their loved ones who are serving in the United States military overseas. 

Charter Communications is helping people on active duty in the military to make an appearance at home for the holidays.

The company’s annual “US Soldier Holiday Greetings” program puts soldiers on video and their airs their special messages on television.

Find out what's happening in Clayton-Richmond Heightswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“All branches of the military are represented in our greetings,” said Jessica Myers, Charter’s senior manager of communications. “Some of the locations where Missouri and Illinois servicemen and women serve that we have greetings from include Anderson Air Force Base; Spangdahlem Air Base; Incirlik Air Base; Kabul, Afghanistan; Camp Carroll; Osan Air Base; Ramstein Air Force Base and Kunsan Air Base.”

Now showing

Find out what's happening in Clayton-Richmond Heightswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The greetings are now available for free on Charter’s On Demand service (that’s channel 1, if you don’t have a digital cable box). They’ll be featured through January 31, 2012, so families and community members can watch at their convenience.

“Seeing and hearing a loved one who is far away during the holidays, even if it’s only for a few minutes on video, is a wonderful gift,” said Sean O’Donnell, Vice-President and General Manager for Charter in Missouri and Illinois, in a press release. “Having access to a greeting On Demand makes it easier for families and friends of our soldiers to view anytime.”

O’Donnell added that there will be those who watch “simply because they are uplifted by these true patriots serving our country.”

Getting the message

Soldiers get involved in the program by recording their own greetings and placing them on a special secured website Charter has set up for them.

“Showing holiday greetings is one small way that we’re able to support our troops who are spending the holidays far from their loved ones this year, as well as their families that are in Missouri and Illinois,” Myers said.

Families can watch their loved ones as many times as they wish, and they can rewind and fast-forward through the programs to search for the greetings they want to see. 

Each greeting is listed featuring the soldier’s name, rank, military branch and hometown.

For more information about this program, you can call 1-888-438-2427 or visit Charter’s website.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

More from Clayton-Richmond Heights