Operation Shower

A baby shower is a special experience in the life of a mom-to-be. Friends, family, and the spouse gather together to celebrate the pregnancy journey and kick off the adventure of motherhood. But for many in the military community, deployments are the dark clouds that hover over expecting moms.  Many of these expecting moms feel alone, separated by war and mission, and with little support during an otherwise joyous time.

This is where one special organization has found a welcome niche.  Operation Shower is on a mission to spread joy to military moms-to-be. Founded specifically to honor the mothers that hold it together on the home front, Operation Shower provides a “baby shower in box” to celebrate motherhood while building and nurturing a support network.

The genesis of Operation Shower occurred in March 2007, when LeAnn Morrissey was looking for a way to give back to her uncle serving overseas.  Her uncle asked wondered if she would send something to spouses of soldiers serving in his command: their wives were pregnant back home and he knew that something from LeAnn would be an appreciated gift.

Together with family and friends, she sent a “shower in a box” to the four military families who were expecting babies.  The overwhelming support she welcomed putting these boxes together and the messages of thanks she received from the expecting mothers left her with little doubt that this was something worth doing – over and over again!

LeAnn soon worked to hold the first unit-wide baby shower at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina in June 2007.

Operation Shower was born.

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Stacy Huisman: Stacy Allsbrook-Huisman is an Air Force spouse, writer, mother and advocate within the military spouse community. As a former Parent-to-Parent trainer for Military Child Education Coalition, she led workshops and seminars on many topics related to the education of military-connected students. She is the coauthor with Dr. Amanda Trimillos of Seasons of My Military Student: Practical Ideas for Parents and Teachers (Elva Resa, 2018). In her “other” life, she worked in public affairs and project management for the city of Las Vegas for 14 years. She was the Executive Director for the Las Vegas Centennial. She had a hand in baking the world largest birthday cake, hosting a 100,000 person parade, marrying 100 couples at once, organizing an amazing Red Hot Chili Peppers concert and managing 450 other events, programs and public relations celebrating her hometown birthday! She met her husband while he was stationed at Nellis AFB. She was whisked away on a crazy military spouse journey around the globe and hasn’t looked back since – only forward. Stacy is connected to many aspects of military life. She writes for one of our other Victory Media publications - GI Jobs Magazine - where she features successful transitioned Veterans in the workforce. She continues to write for myriad of websites and blogs, including a mini-think tank she co-founded called Families on the Home Front. Stacy was published in the popular book Stories Around the Table - Laughter, Wisdom, and Strength in Military Life. She is also a judge for Operation Homefront's Military Child of the Year 2015.
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