Veterans Day is a time to reflect on the tremendous sacrifices that military service members and families have made while protecting our nation.

As Americans, it is our solemn obligation to not only honor veterans with our words, but to support them through our deeds. Veterans and the families that support them deserve our respect, gratitude, and service - on Veterans Day and throughout the year.

At the Corporation for National and Community Service, we are committed to expanding our work with veterans and military families. Building on years of experience, and consistent with the Serve America Act and our Strategic Plan, we are working with our partners to increase support for programs that serve veterans and military families and to engage more veterans in service.

A Few Highlights

• All week on our National Service Blog, we are sharing stories of veterans in national service - including some amazing WWII vets still serving today through Senior Corps. You can also learn more about how to support and honor a veteran.
• On Monday, Koby Langley joined CNCS as Strategic Advisor for Veterans, Wounded Warriors and Military Family Initiatives, bringing a wealth of experience as a decorated veteran, JAG attorney, and special assistant at the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
• Tomorrow we will join the National Guard and the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America to launch a multi-state VetCorps supported through AmeriCorps and AmeriCorps VISTA. Click here to watch a live webcast of the press conference tomorrow at 9:30 am EDT.
• Organizations including The Mission Continues, Mission Serve, colleges in the President's Interfaith Collegiate Challenge, and national service programs across the country are leading service projects for Veterans Day, part of a broader effort to connect military and civilian service.

How You Can Help

There is still much more to do. As we celebrate Veterans Day, we encourage the national service field to expand support for veterans and military families, and recruit more veterans into service. Veterans bring extraordinary skills and leadership abilities to national service.

More than 16,000 veterans have served in AmeriCorps, and tens of thousands have served in Senior Corps - applying their unique skills to solve problems here at home. Here are some ways volunteers can help.

• SERVE: Organize or join a project through Serve.gov. The search engine provides a great tool for individuals and groups to find local projects or start a project using our online toolkits.
• HONOR: Memorialize the story of a veteran by recording his or her story for the Veterans History Project at the Library of Congress. The Veterans History Project Field Kit provides straightforward, step-by-step guidelines on how to interview a veteran.
• PLEDGE: Operation Honor Cards is a project inspired by the First Lady's Joining Forces campaign to encourage Americans to pledge to serve military families and veterans. National service programs are pitching in, such as Montana Senior Corps programs that generated more than 185,000 hours of service, helping the project reach 9 million hours of pledges. Make your pledge here.

Thank you for your support of our veterans and military communities, on Veterans Day and throughout the year.

PS: Learn more about the Corporation's work with veterans and military families and join the conversation or share your stories about Veterans Day on Facebook or http://twitter.com/ServeDotGov.