God Bless the USA!

As we celebrate our nation's independence, it's important to remember the service men and women and their families who sacrificed to give us our home and our freedom. It's hard to choose just one charity that serves veterans, as there are many wonderful organizations out there who do a variety of essential work for veterans. However, among the good, there are also some that do not do what they claim. Consider this as you decide how to give back.

Sandra Block of USA Today covers a lot of tips for researching a veterans charity before you donate to avoid scams: http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/columnist/block/story/2011-11-07/veterans-charities/51113928/1

Here are some of my favorite veteran's charities, all of which received a four-star rating from charitynavigator.org:

Operation Homefront
http://www.operationhomefront.net/

Hope for the Warriors
http://www.hopeforthewarriors.org/

Homes for our Troops
http://www.homesforourtroops.org/site/PageServer

Canine Companions for Independence
http://www.cci.org/site/c.cdKGIRNqEm...dependence.htm

God Bless the USA, and God Bless our brave veterans!