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For a dozen years, Bob Ahern and his family have made it their mission to help the families of veterans serving overseas and those who have lost their lives.

That tradition will continue Dec. 12 when the Ahern Family Charitable Foundation hosts its 12th annual Army–Navy Football Luncheon at The Scoreboard at The Crowne Plaza in Woburn.

According to Ahern, this year's luncheon will benefit the Military Friends Foundation's Operation Santa-Massachusetts, which provides financial assistance to families associated with the Massachusetts National Guard and Reserve. Proceeds will be used to provide holiday gift cards to children of deployed and fallen soldiers.

Ahern, a native of Arlington, has strong ties to the military and law enforcement. He served in the Army Reserve and the Massachusetts Army National Guard before being honorably discharged in 1991. Those ties run throughout the Ahern family. His father Bo served in Vietnam with the Marines. Brother Steve was also a Marine. He and a second brother, Chris, are officers with the Cambridge Police Department.

In 1992, Ahern began a career in law enforcement, first with the Metropolitan Police Department and later the Massachusetts State Police, where he now serves as the bomb squad commander for the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit at Logan International Airport. While attending the Medal of Honor Convention in Boston earlier that year, he met Tom Lyons, the former executive director of the New England Shelter for Homeless Veterans and currently the director of community services at MassHousing in Boston.

Lyons explained the plight of homeless veterans and Ahern took it to heart.

"I wasn't really aware of that problem. Tom inspired me. There's an old saying, 'You never leave a man behind,' and I believe that," said Ahern. "It never hit me there could me homeless veterans. I didn't put two and two together."

After a discussion with his wife Eileen, what was once a St. Patrick's Day celebration at home became a party on a much larger scale at the Montvale Plaza in Stoneham in 2002. After selling approximately 350 tickets, Ahern raised $10,000 for the New England Shelter for Homeless Veterans.

While the issue of homelessness among veterans has garnered more attention in recent years, more still needs to be done.

"Once we're able to get a veteran into a stable environment and get back on track, we don't just let them go own their own. Now we provide services and help them reunite with their families," Ahern said. "The support services have made a difference."

Advocates are now getting people into more permanent housing and out of shelters at a faster rate.

As a result of his work with Ahern, Lyons said he supports the foundation as much as he can. After U.S. forces entered Afghanistan, Ahern said Reservists and National Guard members were being called to active duty to serve overseas.

"It put a financial strain on families of guardsmen and reservist," he said.

After earning status as a 501(c)(3) charity, the foundation held a St. Patrick's Day gala for the next few years, growing larger each year. The gala is on hiatus until 2017, but the foundation's efforts to care for families of veterans is ongoing.

"We came up with the idea of a less-formal event to supplement the gala," Ahern said.

The result was the first Army-Navy Luncheon in 2004 with about 50 guests. The venue has changed over years, but for the last five years, the luncheon has been held at The Scoreboard.

"We now have as many as 400 to 500 guests, including local TV and radio celebrities and former professional athletes like Terry O'Reilly and Steve Grogan," said Ahern.

This year's guests include two Medal of Honor recipients -- retired Navy Capt. Thomas Kelley and retired Army Staff Sgt. Ryan Pitts.

Grateful

Ahern said he's grateful for the efforts of the Crowne Plaza.

"They're very generous to us. The staff is awesome and they look forward to us coming in every year," he said.

Frank Vento, general manager of the Crowne Plaza, said after Ahern explained what he was doing, he quickly agreed to do what he could, which ended up being donating the venue and luncheon at no cost to the foundation.

"We feel very strongly this is a great cause. It's worthy of people contributing to. They won't have the expense of paying for the food and could donate more to the families," said Vento.

Sarah Kelleher Sweeney, executive director of the Military Friends Foundation, said they've had a longstanding relationship with the Ahern Foundation -- one that has helped children each Christmas.

"Each Massachusetts child who has a parent deployed or has lost a parent in the war receives a $50 Visa gift card so they can buy whatever they may need," she said. "Last year, we donated about 400 cards.

"After 9/11, Kelleher Sweeney said the Ahern Foundation made a donation that became the seed money for what has since become Military Friends Foundation. Since 9/11, more than 44,000 Massachusetts residents have answered the call to service.

"When a soldier puts on their uniform, the family also serves," Kelleher Sweeney said.