As most of you know I am a proud to be a military wife. Newer readers might not know that a few years ago my husband was deployed and during his deployment he suffered an injury that turned our world upside down for about 18 months. I am thankful that he is now completely healed, but I know there are other families who are not so fortunate.
While we had an excellent support system while my husband was gone, many families do not. According to a Defense Manpower Report over 100,000 kids have at least one parent deployed. Deployments are tough on kids and I love organizations that help make this time easier.
Operation Purple is one such program. They organize summer camps, and family camps to help children cope with the stress of deployment. This camp is totally free and supported by the National Military Family Association. This video below gives a small peek into what Operation Purple is all about.
These camps are a great way for kids to have fun, hang out with other kids who are going through the same thing, and talk through some of the struggles and worries they face while their parents are serving our country overseas.
As a parent who helped six kids through a deployment, I understand the need for programs such as these to serve our military families. Many families can not afford to pay for camps likes these for their children. While the military does provide counseling for families, there is something about summer camp that goes beyond traditional counseling methods.
The problem is that Operation Purple might not continue. Currently they do not have enough money to fund the 2011 camps. This great organization relies on donations to keep the camps operating and free to military families. I know that many families donate money at the end of the year to their favorite charity, and many businesses also make end of the year donations. I realize the economy stinks and time are tough, but this is a great program and if you were already planning on supporting an organization, would you consider supporting Operation Purple?
The folks at Operation Purple have asked me to help spread the word about this camp (and their need for funding) and would love your help in spreading the word about Operation Purple too.
I’m hosting a giveaway (courtesy of Operation Purple) as an incentive for you to tell others about this wonderful program.
To enter to win a $100 American Express Gift Card you can do any and all of the following.
- Leave a comment on this post sharing how you support our troops.
- Follow @military_family on Twitter.
- Tweet about this post.
- Add it to your Facebook Wall.
- Email it to a friend.
I’ve made it super easy for you to do all these things, if you look at the bottom of this post there are some buttons. Clicking on them will allow you to share this information in a few seconds. Please leave additional comments for each entry. Giveaway ends Tuesday, October 12, 2010.
I realize that most of the time I am encouraging you to keep more money in your pocket on this site, but this program is one that is close to my heart and I wanted to make sure as many people as possible know about this opportunity to support our military families. I have been compensated for my time to write this post, but all opinions are 100% mine and this program was one I had planned on writing about even before being contacting by the organization.
