Before you get started on your taxes this year, check out what free services, credits and exclusions are available to Servicemembers and military families.

When Susan Shogren Smith and her daughters, Charlotte and Hannah,were volunteering for the Light of Hope School in Kenya, teaching students how to use donated photography equipment, she read an article about photographers in California taking family portraits of Servicemember's families and sending them to their deployed loved ones.

Susan and her daughters, skilled photography hobbyists with a penchant for volunteering and a huge sense of patriotism, decided to undertake a similar project.

"We didn't have any idea of how busy we'd end up being," said Susan.
 

Her Minnesota based non-profit organization, Picture A Hero, has provided portraits at no cost to more than 750 Servicemembers and over 3,000 of their family members since they first started the organization in June 2010. Susan and her daughters have traveled across the country at their own expense and time (the Shogren Smiths were gone from their Minnesota home all but four days in November doing work for Picture A Hero), to take portraits before deployments.

Despite traveling across the country for Picture A Hero, Susan and her daughters haven't forgotten their roots; they plan on attending upcoming Beyond the Yellow Ribbon Family Prepatory Academies  in order to serve the Minnesota National Guard Soldiers and their families attending the events.

"People sometimes cry, they are so thankful, it's the most incredible thing I've ever done," said Susan. "We hope that our portraits provide Servicemembers and their families some comfort when they are apart."

Susan is planning Picture A Hero portrait sessions for the alerted Minnesota National Guard Soldiers, if you are interested in attending or supporting, visit, www.PictureAHero.org.

Things couldn't have gone better during last year's Minnesota Military Family Foundation's (MMFF) Golf Classic.

"It was a terrific success, lots of businesses participated," said Tom Lyons, MMFF board member and chair of the Golf Classic. "We raised a pile of money to help with grant requests."

The one-day event, held at Deer Run Golf Club, attracted many businesses as sponsors and raised thousands of dollars to help the families of deployed Servicemembers in need of assistance. For the 2011 tournament, to be held at Tartan Park Golf Course in Lake Elmo, Lyons wants to expand the event's scope - challenging communites to sponsor an MMFF tournament in 2011.

"The theory is, if we can get Yellow Ribbon Communities to have a local tournament," he said, "We could have one foursome from each come participate in the corporate event."

Lyons envisions about 10 community tournaments taking place before the Golf Classic. Each one of these could potentially raise about $5,000 and allow hundreds of people an opportunity to get involved with the fundraiser.

"It was a ton of work, but we raised a boatload of money," Lyons said.

For information about the 2011 Golf Classic as it becomes available, visit MMFF's website, www.MinnesotaMilitaryFamilyFoundation.org.

The MMFF is a community-supported fund founded in 2004, having helped almost 850 military families with grant requests totalling over $1.4 million. The grants have assisted families with rent, mortgage payments, major unexpected expenditures and day-to-day expenses that have become a challenge to meet.

To get a golf tournament started in your Yellow Ribbon Community, contact:

Tom Lyons

President of Faelon Partners, Ltd and Host of Minnesota Military Radio Hour on 100.3 at 7 a.m. Sunday mornings, in addition to being a MMFF Board Member and Chair of the Golf Classic

Lyons@Faelon.com

(763) 231-4200 ext. 1.

Once a year, Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) accepts nominations for the Freedom Award, the highest recognition given to employers for their support of their employees who serve in the Guard and Reserve. For Chief Petty Officer Rory Matter, the 2011 nomination was much more personal.
 

"It was my dad that I nominated," Rory said. "The past 22 years, he's always been supportive of my career."

Rory joined the Navy Reserve while in college, four years before joining the family business in 1992. His original military position was as a signalman, but after 10 years he became a Heavy Equipment Operator and a Seabee. Rory would eventually be deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq in 2006. By then, Rory had partnered with his dad, Raymond, and the two operated Rayco Excavating Company father and son.

"Four years ago, when I was deployed, he kept the company going," Rory said. "Upon demobilization, he allowed me to take the necessary time I needed to re-acclimate, yet started paying me as soon as I was back in the United States."

Rory has also been part of more short-term deployments to Aqaba, Jordan, Rota, Spain and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Throughout those temporary stoppages in civilian work, Raymond ensured Rory's job was protected and waiting for him.

"He is the epitome of what the Freedom Award stands for," Rory said.
 

Rory was randomly selected from a pool of several Servicemembers that nominated their employer from Dec. 10-20, 2010, as part of a Beyond the Yellow Ribbon/ESGR Timberwolves ticket giveaway, courtesy of the MN Fastbreak Foundation.

Among the pages of the Military Family Care Initiative website are many organizations and people that would love to give back to a Servicemember or a military family.

Recently, one listed person, Sherrie Myers of the National Realty Guild, was contacted by a Servicemember, Jerry Votava of the Minnesota National Guard, who was looking to find and purchase a new home.

Truckloads of hand made toys donated from carpenter

When Beyond the Yellow Ribbon took up an offer from Mel Hartman, founder of T.L.C. Toys, they requested 30 toys for the children of Minnesota Servicemembers. Mel was happy to fill the order, but disagreed on the number.
 

"30 Doesn't seem like nearly enough," Mel said.