It’s win or go home for professional football teams competing for a spot in the big game. However, military customers all come out victorious if they shop their commissary for the food and drinks to score big at their house party or barracks get together.

It’s been a little over a year since dietitian-approved recipe posters began helping commissary shoppers choose healthier meal options, and the program shows no signs of slowing down.

Commissary overall worldwide customer savings exceeded 25 percent for fiscal 2019, reported the Defense Commissary Agency.

Military commissaries would rather fill a food bank than a landfill. That’s the mindset of the Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA) as it announces a new milestone in donations – 21 million pounds plus – to local food banks.

If saving money and acknowledging the love of your life are the goals, your commissary has everything from candy to flowers to special heart healthy recipes.

The Feb. 24 deadline to apply to the Scholarships for Military Children program, administered by the nonprofit Fisher House Foundation, is quickly approaching.

Military commissaries will operate under a holiday schedule beginning Nov. 23, the Defense Commissary Agency announced.

Army Lt. Col. Angela Parham, the Defense Commissary Agency’s director of public health and safety, has seen her share of the worst virus outbreaks. During the 2014-2015 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, Parham deployed to Sierra Leone while serving a fellowship with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Epidemic Intelligence Service. There, she talked to family members and friends of Ebola victims, learning all she could about the impact of that horrific disease. Fast forward five years and Parham is with DeCA, helping the agency determine protective measures against COVID-19 for commissaries on installations with different requirements and evolving public health recommendations.

Bridget Bennett, supervisory category manager for produce at the Defense Commissary Agency in Fort Lee, Virginia, has been named one of only four winners of the first-ever Retail Merchant Innovation Awards by the Produce Marketing Association, during their annual Fresh Summit, held virtually Oct. 14.

Despite the uncertainty of COVID-19, the military community can depend on its commissary to deliver savings and value in a safe environment during the holidays, said the Defense Commissary Agency director’s senior enlisted advisor.