The United Service Organization, or USO, began in World War II in order to provide morale support and recreation services to this nation's troops as home and overseas.

Today, the USO serves over 1.4 million active duty Servicemembers and 1.2 members of the Guard and Reserves deployed around the globe.

Here in the Joint Base Lewis-McChord and Camp Murray area, the USO Puget Sound Area (USOPSA) mission continues what was begun 70 years ago.

The USOPSA serves nearly 500,000 local and traveling active-duty military, dependents, veterans and reservists annually across all five service branches and more than 4,000 square miles in the Puget Sound area.

"Taking care of our local military personnel and their families is a civic duty and a privilege for all of us involved with the USO here in the Puget Sound area," Donald Leingang, USO Puget Sound Area executive director, wrote in a press release.

USOPSA operation two centers - one at Sea-Tac Airport and the other at McChord Field.  It also operates a mobile canteen that appears at numerous events in the region.

Other major programs the USOPSA sponsors include Camp Erin (a bereavement camp for children who have lost a loved on to military service), Helping Hands Grants (money USOPSA gives to local military bases, ships and units for a variety of morale building purposes), United Through Reading (a program where deployed Servicemembers can record themselves reading a bedtime story to their children at home), and USOPSA Entertainment (a partnership with the TriWest Healthcare Alliance and the USO's main office to sponsor major concerts).

All of the USOPSA's work is funded by donations.

"We don't receive any government funding, so we rely on the generosity of local companies and individual donors to help keep our operation going 24/7," Leingang continued.

"We encourage everyone to join the USOPSA family during the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) and to show their support for our local military."

The USOPSA's CFC designation number is 15348.

For more information about the USOPSA, visit www.usopsa.org.