Team Exchange Unites to Plan Fun and Flexible Month of the Military Child Celebration

With the toy team leading the way, Team Exchange worked together to bring a fun, flexible Month of the Military Child to life.

Associates from Merchandising, Services and Food, store signing, Corporate Communication and the Exchange Credit Program put plans in place, and store teams from around the world have been executing the vision.

This year’s celebration includes a renewed focus on bringing the fun back in stores with engaging activities and bigger prizes for the Exchange’s youngest heroes.

Since 2020, Month of the Military Child celebration efforts have concentrated on virtual events in line with the Department of Defense’s pandemic safety protocols.

“We’ve worked collaboratively to celebrate Month of the Military Child at the Exchange for several years now,” said Chief Merchandising Officer Karen Cardin, whose father served in the Army. “The collaborations and offers continue to get better each year and it’s great to pay our respect to military children for what they go through. The schedule of events, executed by Team Exchange, really resonates with these children.”

Team Exchange kept the shopper experience at the forefront with flexible options—providing instructions, signage, tools and more to make events easier for store leaders to execute on the date and time best for their community.

“There’s a lot of moving parts from social media to signage. It’s been exciting to see it all come together,” said Buyer III Ann Marie Flint. “We’ve created a robust schedule for the benefit of the kids. I really think the in-store events will have a great turnout.”

To accommodate installation safety measures, the Exchange’s Hardlines team planned virtual contests for military children and Corporate Communication Specialist Mario Baltierra loaded the Month of the Military Child Hub page with activities, games, free drawing lessons, videos and more—giving kids additional options to join in the fun.

Also making a comeback in this year’s celebration are:

• The Purple Up event: Military children and their families can drive up or visit in-store to grab a goodie bag and certificate of appreciation. Store leaders were given additional flexibility on the date and format of their Purple Up event.
• Military brat patches: Local Exchange stores will hand out patches to military children who visit the store. 50,000 collectible patches were ordered this year for children at installations worldwide.
• Free treat coupon: Participating Exchange restaurants will give military children a coupon for a free treat to enjoy at their leisure during the month.

Team Exchange’s collaborative efforts can be seen at ShopMyExchange.com/momc. From digital ads, video, graphics, sales, event schedules, sweepstakes information and more, associates can see the hard work across teams to bring a fun, interactive experience to military families.

Get into it!

Send your best #MOMC event pictures for the Flickr album. Please send high-res versions as attachments to exchangepost@aafes.com.

Follow @ExchangeAssoc on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

4202 MOMC 2022 from Exchange on Vimeo.