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 Fort Lewis. During this brief, useful information is shared about the military installation and the surrounding area.

On a recent morning, about 100 soldiers and a few family members attended one of two meetings offered each week.  During the meeting they received information on entertainment, outdoor recreation and equipment rentals, enlisted and officers clubs, coffee shops, lounges and clubs, important phone numbers, coupons, and child care.

Marge Johnson, the program manager and outreach specialist for the Child Care Action Council, gave a presentation on Army Child Care in Your Neighborhood, a program funded by the Department of Defense and the Department of the Army that replicates Defense Department child care for military families living off post.

Through the program, military families receive assistance that reduces the fees they pay off post to about the same amount they would pay if they had their children in on-post child care, Johnson said.  The program was piloted at Fort Carson, Colo.; Fort Stewart/Hunter Army Airfield, Ga.; Fort Riley, Kan.; Fort Campbell, Ky.; Fort Bragg, N.C.; Fort Drum, N.Y.; Fort Bliss, Texas; Fort Sam Houston, Texas; Fort Lewis, Wash.; and Southern Command, Fla.

Fort Lewis is one of 13 military installations around the country that receives the subsidy, Johnson said.

"The cost of child care in Washington is really very high," she said. "There are people who get as much as $700 or $800 a month for child care. With so many soldiers deploying, this program is designed to help with troop retention by making child care affordable for spouses who work."

For more information about the program, go online to: http://www.naccrra.org or naccrra.org/MilitaryPrograms/accyn.php" target="_blank">www. naccrra.org/MilitaryPrograms/accyn.php.