Charlene Lewis and her four daughters donned matching red shirts with blue birds singing “Joy” and jeans and drove to America’s Credit Union on Fort Lewis.

When their names were called, each of the girls, ages 2 to 9, carried their Daddy Dolls — plush pillows with a photo of their father, Cpt. Gary Lewis, on it — and went into a room where they recorded a video-based webcast that was a 10-minute message to their father.

The experience was one they will never forget, Charlene Lewis said.

“We were so excited and grateful to get to do it,” she said. “We wanted to do something to show our support to their daddy.”

Called Operation Best Wishes, the program was started in 2004 by WesCorp (Western Corporate Federal Credit Union) based in San Dimas, Calif.  To participate, military families record a video-based webcast for that special person who is deployed.  The webcast is sent using a link that can be watched repeatedly.  A disc of the message is also given to each family.  This year the tour will visit 16 credit union locations located throughout the United States.

The local credit union started to host the program five years ago and has seen growth in participation every year, said Sherrie Teague, a marketing specialist for America’s Credit Union.  This year 100 families with children ages newborn to 18 participated in the program, which went from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Lewis heard about the program through an e-mail.  She thought it was a great way to allow her husband to be with them even though he’s 1000s of miles away, she said.

“He can’t be here this year for Christmas,” she said. “But this was a way for us to make Christmas special in a different way.”

In the webcast, the girls sang their father “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” and talked to him.

“We told him how proud we are of him,” she said.  “He was excited and touched.” 
With the message behind them, Lewis and her daughters have moved on to their next project to show their support — 200 pieces of fudge to be shared by her husband and his unit.

“We just want the soldiers to know that we are here for them, and we are so proud of all of them,” she said. “We are so excited to be able to do things that might make the deployment easier.”