KILLEEN, Texas — Maria Reed is a woman determined to make the lives of those around her better, and she does so through love, compassion and a genuine desire to make a difference in the lives of military families through her show, "Moving with the Military."
"She just has this huge heart," said Anna C. Johnson, a recent recipient of Reed's show. "She wants to give everything she has and it's not for anyone to take notice."
Chandee Ulch, a friend and the woman behind the camera of "Moving with the Military" agreed.
"The heart she has toward people," Ulch said. "She would literally give you the shirt off her back if it was to help."
Reed was a high school Computer Science teacher, until she had an "a-ha" moment while binge-watching Netflix home improvement shows.
She said she didn't like how military families were being portrayed.
"I decided to flip the script," Reed said. "What if we do it a different way, and highlighted some really great things and what military spouses are doing, great causes that they are funding."
The Armed Forces Insurance Military Spouse of the Year award recognizes military spouses' important contributions and unwavering commitment to both the military community and our country.
Reed won the installation voting and was recently announced as the 2019 Fort Hood Military Spouse of the Year. She will learn Friday if she is one of the Top 18 Spouses of the Year, a criteria derived from 25 percent of the popular vote from round one and 75 percent of the MSOY Panel of judges.
If she advances past the next two rounds, Reed will make it to the final round of voting for the National Military Spouse of the Year, announced in May.
Reed said that while she is proud of her accomplishments so far, whether she wins or not, she looks forward to what's coming this year.
"I want to campaign for this community and the people that matter to me, all of the military spouses and military families, so if I don't move on, we're going to have a great year," Reed said. "2019, bring it!"
Make no mistake, Reed is a winner in the hearts and minds of those she's touched and the lives she's making a difference in every single day.
"Just to have that pride in having her here, that's not something everyone gets at all," Tasha Carnahan, who was able to surprise her daughter with a bedroom makeover because of Reed, said.
As for what is next in 2019, Reed is looking ahead to taking "Moving the Military" on the road, with a stop in March to Little Rock, Arkansas.
"The more families we can help, the more families that we can celebrate," she said with a smile. "That's just our goal, it's to give kindness."