GREENSBORO, N.C. — With the holidays upon us, many will be traveling home to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas with family.
But for those serving in the military, coming home is not always an option.
While serving in the US Coast Guard, Stephen Baker has selflessly taken on missions, allowing others to come home and spend the holidays with their families.
"I know if it's important to me, as someone that doesn't have family in the immediate area, it's probably even more important for them. So, I normally jump on that opportunity to offer them the opportunity to spend the holidays with their families," Stephen Baker said.
This year, for the first time since 2015, Baker is coming home for Thanksgiving.
84-Lumber and Operation Home, are helping Baker surprise his mother a few days early.
"She knows that I'm coming but she thinks that I'm coming on Wednesday. She has no idea," Stephen Baker said.
As a large delivery truck pulled up into the Reedy Fork neighborhood, Amy Baker came out of her home to see what her special delivery was.
She had no idea what precious cargo awaited inside.
As the straps were cut from the large wooden crate, out walked her son, Stephen.
"When I came out my door, and there were all these cameras, that was weird. And this large thing what is that?" Amy Baker said.
Daniel Baker, Stephen's brother, was in on the secret.
He had worked all morning to make sure his mom was home and was clueless about her special delivery.
"I have a terrible poker face. For me to go as long as I did without letting anything else, I'm pretty proud of myself," Daniel Baker said.
"I got in trouble a lot in the past for lying to my mom, so it's tough to lie to her about coming on a Wednesday and not today," Stephen Baker said.
Byron Davis's son also serves in the military.
After learning some members of the military struggle to cover the cost of traveling home for the holidays, he co-founded Operation Home.
"Enlisted personnel, by and large, don't get paid well enough to cover these trips home," Davis said. "We've been doing this since 2015, the very first individual that we helped had not seen a family member in four years,"
Operation Home has covered the travel costs for hundreds of military men and women for years.
Giving them the chance to spend the holiday season with family, most have not seen in years.
Even with one son still in Atlanta, Amy Baker is thankful for her Thanksgiving blessing, 'thankful. Very thankful," she said.
Proving, that there's no place like home.