Central Florida Hero Kathy Hewitt Being Recognized at National Level

Central Florida Hero Kathy Hewitt, founder of Just Our Soldiers' Helpers is one of Three Finalists in the National Sparkling Ice® Cheers to Heroes Contest.

LONGWOOD, Fla. - Floridant -- Just Our Soldiers' Helpers (JOSH), a morale-boosting organization for U.S. service members deployed to combat zones, announced today that Founder Kathy Hewitt is one of three national finalists in the Sparkling Ice® Cheers to Heroes contest. Nominated by a JOSH volunteer, Kathy was selected as a finalist for the national grand prize among a field of over 100 third round submittals. Kathy will be vying for public votes on the contest's website from July 1, 2020 to July 31, 2020. Visitors to www.sparklingice.com/cheerstoheroes may vote for Kathy once per day.

This is the first-ever Cheers to Heroes campaign to celebrate America's everyday hometown heroes, in conjunction with Sparkling Ice's fifth annual partnership with the Honor Flight Network. Throughout the campaign, Sparkling Ice has pledged to give back $400,000 to unsung heroes through various initiatives including this new Cheers to Heroes contest where the contest winner will receive $10,000.

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Kathy's organization, JOSH, ships high-quality care packages to U.S. service members to boost morale while they are forward-deployed to remote locations with limited access to post or base exchanges. Through her tireless leadership and dedication, the organization ships hundreds of care packages every month from Central Florida in hopes of brightening a service member's day.

"Oh my gosh, I'm speechless," said flabbergasted JOSH Founder Kathy Hewitt when she heard the news of her nomination. "I am totally humbled by this gesture. JOSH would not be here today without the strong support we get from individuals and corporate members of the community. This nomination by a volunteer exemplifies that sentiment."

If Kathy wins, she has pledged to put the money into JOSH. Several of the organizations major fund-raising efforts have been indefinitely postponed or cancelled due to the pandemic. "We support as many service members as funding allows," Kathy continued. "The number of packages we can send every month is based on our forecasted budget. We've recently decided to scale back a bit to stretch out our resources."

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The winner of the Cheers to Heroes contents will be announced on August 7^th and will be based on the total number of votes received during the month of July.

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About Just Our Soldiers' Helpers
Founded in 2011, Just Our Soldiers' Helpers (JOSH), is an all-volunteer IRS Approved 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization located in Longwood, Florida. JOSH boosts the morale of forward-deployed U.S. service members by shipping high-quality care packages all year long. Visit www.GoJOSH.org for more information.