Sarasota Military Officers Foundation, Inc. [SMOF]

Last year marked the twentieth anniversary of the Sarasota Military Officers Foundation, Inc., honored to be serving our community of over 88,000 Veterans and 40,000 Sarasota County school students. Our Foundation is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, established by the Military Officers Association of Sarasota to support community outreach programs throughout the greater Sarasota & Manatee region. We are an all-volunteer Veteran’s organization and, as such, are very frugal with our donors contributions. Other than regulatory fees, postage and printing costs, your donations are used to support our programs. We focus our efforts in six areas:

• Awarding educational and vocational merit-based scholarships to qualified, high-achieving high school seniors;
• Providing Veteran educational financial aid to returning Veterans to attend local educational institutions;
• Sponsoring the American Flag Initiative, a 10-lesson curriculum to educate our elementary school children on the origin, history and meaning of the American Flag;
• Supporting the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) programs and the maintenance of their training facilities;
• Sending care packages to deployed troops under the Support Our Troops Program (SOT);
• and Sponsoring patriotic, educational and inspirational public events for our community and Veterans.

An Elementary School Education Program

In partnership with The Patterson Foundation, the Sarasota County School Board, and numerous other organizations, our Foundation introduced the American Flag Initiative in October 2013 to educate the community’s children; the public; and the greater Sarasota/Manatee business community on the origin, history, and meaning of the American Flag; the importance of patriotism and respect for the flag; as well as the proper protocols for the flag’s display and retirement. With our Chapter’s support, the Sarasota County educators developed an Academic Curriculum consisting of ten (10) fifty-minute lessons of classroom instruction for 4th grade students to be taught by their teachers and a visiting instructional team consisting of a retired/former military officer; a JROTC Cadet from our local high school; and a Senior Level Scout from the Girl Scouts. This program has subsequently been replicated in other communities throughout Florida and the United States. Our Foundation publishes, OLD GLORY, a guide to displaying and honoring our Nation’s flag. We also organize old and damaged flag collections throughout the Sarasota and Manatee counties for appropriate disposal.

We hope that you enjoyed had an opportunity to attend our “Celebration of the Stars & Stripes” on Flag Day, June 2015, and on June 2016 at Sarasota’s Patriot Plaza. Our next celebration will take place on President’s Day Monday, February 17, 2020, also at Patriot Plaza at the Sarasota National Cemetery. The Patterson Foundation and United Way Suncoast are sponsors of the event. SMOF is an affiliate of the Military Officers Association of Sarasota (MOAS), the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA), and the Florida Council of Chapters (FCOC).