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Support for Military Families (archive)

Programs, events and organizations supporting your family.

Operation Family Support

Daycare subsidy tops mtg.

When soldiers arrive at Fort Lewis they are required to attend dozens of meetings and briefings during their in-processing. One of these meetings is a family brief, a session that military personnel must attend during their first week at...

Indoor Birthday Parties

Operation Family Support

Indoor Birthday Parties

Are you at the point where you have had so many birthday parties for your children, that being original has become daunting? Do you start planning for the party months in advance, and every time you mention something to another parent,...

Making a difference

Operation Family Support

Making a difference

Five years ago Sgt. Thomas Sekely and his wife, Melissa, received Christmas presents for their family from Operation Homefront - a nonprofit organization that provides financial assistance to low ranking military servicemembers. Shortly...

Operation Family Support

A family’s woes turned fun

When her husband Spc. Nigel Davis deployed, Brenda Davis prepared herself to deal with whatever happened during his absence. So when the family car broke down, a 1997 model, she went for assistance. She was directed to Operation Homefront,...

DePLAYment tag program debuts at McChord next month

Operation Family Support

DePLAYment tag program debuts at McChord next month

RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFNS) - Air Force Services Agency officials will be offering DePLAYment tags to families of deployed members now through July 31, 2010, as part of the Year of the Air Force Family. Eligible members can log on to...

Operation Family Support

Families send their best wishes

Charlene Lewis and her four daughters donned matching red shirts with blue birds singing "Joy" and jeans and drove to America's Credit Union on Fort Lewis. When their names were called, each of the girls, ages 2 to 9, carried...

How to protect your home

Operation Family Support

How to protect your home

Use this month-by-month guide to safeguard your home year-round, especially when you are keeping the home fires burning on your own.

Military family summit benefits support networks

Operation Family Support

Military family summit benefits support networks

Local military children answered questions and addressed several topics related to deployments, life in a military family and what challenges military children face on a daily basis.

Operation Family Support

Online resources for military parents

Three online sources you should have at your fingertips. ZERO TO THREEThese resources focus on young children, and include free booklets, monthly e-newsletter sign-up, and DVDs.  ThriveThrive is a blog done by the Children's Hospital...

Operation Family Support

After school care on Fort Lewis

Parents have more child care options than ever before, thanks to "Army School Age Programs in Your Neighborhood." Fort Lewis Child, Youth and School Services has teamed up with two nationally recognized organizations to help ensure time...

New Parent Support makes housecalls

Operation Family Support

New Parent Support makes housecalls

Receiving help doesn't get much easier than having someone show up at your door. With the Fort Lewis New Parent Support Program, social workers and registered nurses are available to do just that. ...

Operation Family Support

New Parent Support Program

  Most parents would agree that raising children is one of life's most difficult challenges. Bringing them up in a military family can be even more difficult. Fort Lewis recognizes this reality and is full of resources to assist and support...

Winter Sports on a Budget

Operation Family Support

Winter Sports on a Budget

The Christmas holiday is over, and the budget is tighter this month, but that doesn't mean you can't have fun. Although winter sports equipment can be quite expensive at the local resorts, there are some local on-post facilities that are offering...

Operation Family Support

Program links kids to parents

Children of military service members are no different than other kids - except for the fact that they are expected to be stronger and to understand when one of their parents is sent to the other side of the globe. With routine deployments...

Committee sets stage for YOAFF support events

Operation Family Support

Committee sets stage for YOAFF support events

Despite the plethora of support programs available to airmen and their families, in times of high operations tempo and steady deployments sometimes those who need the programs most don't take advantage of them. The Year of the Air Force Family...

Operation Family Support

Parent University coming to McChord March 27

The 13th annual Parent University, a day-long educational event for military parents to learn about issues related to parenting, is March 27 at the McChord Clubs and Community Center. The event is open to all military members, Army, Navy, Air...

Feel like taking a walk? Try volksmarching

Operation Family Support

Feel like taking a walk? Try volksmarching

Volksmarching is a German word meaning 'peoples' march', which is exactly what it looks like when it happens. This type of organized, non-competitive fitness walking involves participants walking 10 kilometers, about 6.2 miles, on a...

Students create quilts

Operation Family Support

Students create quilts

From the outside, elementary schools across America often look the same. But inside there are differences - especially when it comes to one in a military community. There the faces of students and teachers change regularly; entire classes shift...

Operation Family Support

Free babysitting search offered by DoD

Are you one of those parents who never seems to be able to find a good baby-sitter? Either the person you have hired isn't available when you need him or her, or he or she chats on the phone and ignore the kids in your absence? Look no...

Support programs plentiful at JBLM-McChord Field

Operation Family Support

Support programs plentiful at JBLM-McChord Field

President Barack Obama's fiscal 2011 budget request calls for a record $8.8 billion for military family support programs. First Lady Michelle Obama told military spouses at a luncheon last week at Bolling Air Force Base in Washington, D.C. the...

New couples class starts

Operation Family Support

New couples class starts

"There is no instruction manual for marriage," said Holcomb, who has been a chaplain for 22 years. "But this class is like ongoing training."

Ladies royally pampered

Operation Family Support

Ladies royally pampered

(Ranger Staff) - It was a Valentine's Day to remember for 700+ military spouses and girlfriends with loved ones deployed overseas. Instead of staying home with lonely hearts, they were treated by the Ranger and Airlifter newspapers to a...

Gardening Classes

Operation Family Support

Gardening Classes

With the spring season upon us, gardening classes and clinics for people who are beginning to master gardeners are popping up like tulips all over the county.ÃÆ'�  Some of the classes include one session and others include several...

When to Plant

Operation Family Support

When to Plant

Have you ever planted a yard full of flowers and plants and two weeks later they have all wilted and died?  Or maybe you are the gardener who has to spend hours every day to get plants and flowers to survive. Whether you have a green...

Free banners for troops returning home

Operation Family Support

Free banners for troops returning home

Originally started July 4, 2008 as a way to celebrate troops' safe return home in conjunction with the patriotic spirit of Independence Day, BuildASign.com decided to give away 10,000 free banners to families interested in ordering one for their...

Support programs aid grieving family members

Operation Family Support

Support programs aid grieving family members

When the worst happens, there are those who help put lives back together.Hopes and prayers surround the deployed, but still beloved warriors are lost. The hearts of survivors are shocked and hurt beyond understanding. It is difficult to work...

Operation Family Support

Donations needed

At the grocery store sometimes you are stopped just outside the front door and asked to purchase more than what is on your list. Organizations that employ this donation tactic range from Boy Scouts working on a service project to local food banks...

Operation Family Support

Deployment workshop set for April

Is your spouse a member of the National Guard or Reserves? Do you have questions about what happens with benefits and deployment pay entitlements when your servicemember returns home from deployment?

Cards for the troops

Operation Family Support

Cards for the troops

Operation Write Home (OWH) is a registered nonprofit organization that provides blank handmade greeting cards to deployed troops. The organization also sends out cards of thanks and appreciation to armed forces members. OWH started in 2007 and...

Organizations team up to provide hearty welcome

Operation Family Support

Organizations team up to provide hearty welcome

Over the next six months, approximately 7,500 single soldiers will be returning home with the 3rd, 4th and 5th Stryker Brigades. Members of two organizations, the Air Force Sergeant's Association Auxiliary and Support America's Armed Forces, have...

Families find comfort after losing a soldier

Operation Family Support

Families find comfort after losing a soldier

"When you lose one life, you have to begin another life," said Norma Melo.For Melo, those words go a long way toward summing up how she views the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, or TAPS. Melo's husband - Staff Sgt. Julian Melo - was one...

Local kids clubs offer wealth of activities

Operation Family Support

Local kids clubs offer wealth of activities

From the time children are toddlers, they need peer interaction. But at some point, children begin to want to break away from their parents and get involved with some sport or club on their own. Joining a club gets kids out of the house...

Make a splash at local swimming pools

Operation Family Support

Make a splash at local swimming pools

A trip to the local pool is one of the most inexpensive, fun and relaxing summer activities that a family can do. It can also be good for you. Research shows that although many people see swimming as a sport you do when it is hot outside,...

READEO offers military families chance to connect

Operation Family Support

READEO offers military families chance to connect

About the time his son Oliver turned 3, Coby Neuenschwander was concerned about the distance between the youngster and his grandparents. They were having trouble establishing a meaningful relationship, Neuenschwander said. As a result, he...

Marriage retreat free for military

Operation Family Support

Marriage retreat free for military

Jeff Kemp was concerned about the conditions that young children were growing up in. There were just too many kids from broken homes. The more he witnessed, the more he wanted to do something to help strengthen marriages, and in turn...

USO volunteers serve

Operation Family Support

USO volunteers serve

They are all volunteers. Kristi King prepared care packages; Gina Luplow poured hot coffee; Barbara Thompson talked to soldiers; Kathy Marzolf greeted every soldier who walked in the door at the USO building at McChord Field; Freddie Ellis...

ROMANCING THE SPOUSE

Operation Family Support

ROMANCING THE SPOUSE

Romancing the Spouse is your opportunity to plan for the arrival home of your loved one with great give-aways, travel discounts, classes and much more. It's a day of pampering and preparation. To register, click here and follow...

Splash into Summer with Swim Lessons

Operation Family Support

Splash into Summer with Swim Lessons

In 2005, of all children one to four years old who died, almost 30 percent died from drowning, and in children ages 1 to 14 fatal drowning is the second leading cause of unintentional injury-related death, according to data compiled by the...

Squadron grants ill girl’s wish

Operation Family Support

Squadron grants ill girl’s wish

Kaylie Bergen was up for the challenge of her first mission as a pilot with the 4th Airlift Squadron.

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