How One Show Aims To Celebrate Military Families on the Move
According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, military members and their families make a Permanent Change of Station (PCS) on average of every 2–4 years. The government spends about $5500 per move, while families contribute an average of $1700 in non-reimbursable costs.
Staying on top of your move, adjusting to your new duty station, and making your house more of a home is a challenge for any service member and their family. That is where Maria Reed and her web-series, “Moving with the Military” steps in.
Maria Reed is no stranger to designing, PCS moves, or being on TV.
“During my 25-year career in the television and film industry, I worked on locations all over the world; creating spectacular scenes from the modern design to traditional,” Maria states about her experience. “As a military spouse of 14 years, I have learned to be resilient, kind, and resourceful.”
Her passion is helping other military families like her own with her series, “Moving with the Military: Room Makeovers.”
To be featured on Reed’s program, military families submit their life stories for consideration.
Reed then surprises select families with a redesigned room — ultimately giving the family a reason to be excited for their new change of pace and grow closer together.
On the show, families receive a local guided trip around town to serve as a family activity and to help them acquaint themselves with their new city. Then, they get a complete redecoration of a room of their choice. The family receives this at no charge to them.
It’s a great way to help families become more familiar with a new town and also help turn their new house into a home.
“Even though military families can move often, their new military house should always feel like home,” Maria says about her mission and her passion. “Celebrating military families, one home makeover at a time.”
Many veterans are not strangers to a PCS moves across state lines, across the country, or around the world. Migrating to a new place, even by yourself, can be a hassle — and creating that warm “at home” feeling can be a more significant challenge.
In addition to surprising military families with a fully redesigned room in their new home, Reed provides home making tips, hacks, and time saving advice to make moves less of a hassle and something that a modern military family should embrace.
“Move, Organize, Decorate, Repeat,” the website proclaims — and the site has plenty of home decorating and money saving tips to get you started.The show is fun, heartwarming, and is filled with practical offering tips and tricks for everyday uses or more military-centric applications.
Topics include finally organizing that messy closet, to bathroom makeovers, to the correct detergents to use on uniforms — to actually using that military folding technique to keep clothes neat and organized. Reed reminds viewers that everything you learn in the military has purpose and how that mentality can be applied at home.
In the short time that the show has been around, Reed and her sponsors have hosted contests, giveaways, challenges, videos on redecorating, reorganizing, and a 31 Day Organization Boot Camp to help military families.
It is most practical and useful for everyone who is approaching a PCS, in the middle of a PCS, or has yet to finish unpacking from their last PCS.
The show is open for all military families to submit their stories to for consideration for their makeover. Visit MovingWithTheMilitary.TV and click on “Contact” to submit your story.
“We are more than a home improvement series — we share what it’s like to be a military family; the trials and the triumphs.”
Written in association with Julio Job Lopez and Jacob Warwick
