The National Military Family Association (NMFA) http://www.nmfa.org/site/PageServer , a charitable organization, has two programs, Operation Purple and Operation Purple Healing designed specifically for the children of our military and for the wounded of our military.
The goals of NMFA are….
“To educate military families concerning their rights, benefits and services available to them and to inform them regarding the issues that affect their lives and...”
“To promote and protect the interests of military families by influencing the development and implementation of legislation and policies affecting them.” http://www.nmfa.org/site/PageServer?pagename=home_aboutnmfa
One of the ways NMFA carries out their goals is to provide two different types of summer camping experiences. Operation Purple is for the children of parents in the military and Operation Purple Healing is for wounded military members and their families.
Operation Purple, is a summer camp program for children of parents who have been, are currently or will be deployed soon. It is a free one week camp. Although most of the slots for this summer have already been filled, you can check here to see what is still available. There are a few camps with extended registration in ID, KY and OR.
In 2008, Operation Purple will send children to camp in 37 different states and territories, for a total of 100 weeks of camp at 62 different locations at no cost to the child’s family. They have been offering these camping opportunities since 2004.
“These free, week-long, overnight camps are open to all military children. The program aims to help military kids experience carefree fun while also learning coping skills to deal with war-related stress and fostering relationships with others who know what they are going through.” http://www.nmfa.org/site/PageServer?pagename=op_default
In order to provide for more children to attend camp for a week, NMFA does not reimburse or pay for travel expenses back and forth between home and the camp.
Operation Purple Healing Adventure Camp has just gotten started here in 2008 as a pilot project based off of Operation Purple. The program is designed to meet the needs of our wounded military and their families in a week long camping experience. The camp offers couples centered, as well as individual activities throughout the week. Some of the recreational activities that the whole family is encouraged to participate in include, but are not limited to swimming, horseback riding and high ropes to name a few. Many of these same activities are offered in the Operation Purple camping experience.
The retreat this year will be held from August 18th – 22nd and I do not know if all the spaces have been filled at this time. For more information regarding who is eligible and how to apply, follow this link. Transportation assistance is available for this program.
When applying online, please be sure to read all the information that is required before hand. They suggest that you write out your essays prior to beginning the application process, so that your information is not lost, if the program times out from inactivity.
For more information on either of the Operation Purple camping programs you may contact them at [email protected].
Copyright 2008 MsMarti. All rights reserved.
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