Operation Holiday Cheer feeds dozens of local military personnel

OKALOOSA ISLAND — Operation Holiday Cheer, which provides Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners to local military personnel and their families who can't make it home for the holidays and local veterans who also couldn't attend family celebrations, fed more than 200 people on Thursday.

This Thanksgiving marked the third year that Dr. Garry Banks, a Niceville family medicine specialist, local developer Jay Odom, The Island resort on Okaloosa Island, Sealand Restaurant in Fort Walton Beach and a number of volunteers teamed up for Operation Holiday Cheer.

According to Jackie Blue, director of sales and marketing for The Island by Hotel RL, 160 people had turkey and all the trimmings on Thursday at The Island. An additional 60 meals were delivered to military personnel who were at their posts for the holiday.

"We are honored to partner with Dr. Banks on Operation Holiday Cheer ...," Blue wrote in an email to the Daily News. "Everyone enjoyed food and fellowship on this special day of thanks."

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The roots of Operation Holiday Cheer go back four years, when Banks was moved by the tears of military member who also was one of his patients. During a visit by the military member to Banks' office, conversation turned to the holidays and a traditional Christmas dinner, and Banks learned that the service member hadn't been home for the holiday the previous two years.

Banks was moved enough to team up with Sealand Restaurant to provide both a Thanksgiving meal and a Christmas Day dinner to local military personnel who weren't able to go home or mark the holidays in any other special way.

By the next year, though, the effort to feed active-duty troops, their families and friends and veterans had expanded to the point that Banks approached Odom, which resulted in Operation Holiday Cheer.

Now under the effort, Sealand Restaurant prepares and delivers Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day meals to active-duty military personnel who are working on those days, and The Island provides holiday meals to active-duty military personnel, family, friends and veterans.

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"I really appreciate the people at The Island hotel, Sealand Restaurant, and the Jay Odom Group," Banks said prior to this year's edition, noting that they "have gone out of their way to assist ... in this endeavor."

The dinners provided through Operation Holiday Cheer have been gratefully acknowledged by the military personnel who have received them, Banks said. This year's Thanksgiving menu included a Caesar salad, a choice of meats comprising turkey with bread stuffing, cranberry sauce, and buttermilk biscuits and Cajun honey-glazed ham with spicy mustard, side dishes of garlic mashed potatoes, herb roasted green beans, honey-glazed heirloom carrots, and pumpkin and pecan pie for dessert.

"The ones who've attended the dinner said it was great for camaraderie," Banks said in a recent interview.

For the military personnel on duty on the holidays, the dinners can mean even more, according to Banks. "Some of them are in tears because they didn't think they would have a holiday meal," he said.

Reservations for the upcoming Christmas Day meal, whether served at The Island or delivered to a duty post, can be made by email at gbanks@ecmed.gccoxmail.com or by phone at 850-678-7676.

Banks is asking that people make reservations at least a week in advance to ensure that both Sealand and The Island have ample time to have the makings of the holiday meals on hand. Meals will be served from 2 to 3:30 p.m. on Christmas Day at The Island.

As Operation Holiday Cheer has increased in size, donations have become its source of funding. A September event in Destin raised a significant amount of money for the effort, but donations still are welcome and can be arranged through the same email address and telephone number being used to accept reservations, Banks said.

Donations will be accepted until the day before Christmas.

This article originally appeared on Northwest Florida Daily News: Operation Holiday Cheer feeds Northwest Florida military personnel