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Month of the Military Child 2023

By Peggy Whitcomb posted 05-04-2023 11:26 AM

  

April is the "Month of the Military Child"

Peggy Whitcomb, National Chair, DAR Project Patriot Committee

The DAR Project Patriot Committee supports actively serving military and their families, which includes all military children and April is the Month of the Military Child.

Who is a military child? Any child who has a parent serving in the military! There are an estimated 1.2 million military children across the world.  Military children are resilient facing separations from their parent(s) for great lengths of time. They move every two to three years and have to adjust to new homes, new schools, and new friendships at each new location. Some children experience the ultimate sacrifice, sadly, with the loss of a parent and/or an injured parent.

It truly is important for us to recognize our military children. If you know a military child, please consider supporting and make them sparkle in the following ways:

  • If you know military children, then THANK and let them know they are appreciated.
  • Contact a Purple Star School to see what support they need (see below on how to make contact).
  • Purple Up – wear purple on April 21st to celebrate military kids!

Purple Star Schools

Have you heard of Purple Star Schools? The Military Child Education Coalition shares that a Purple Star School program has been designed to help schools respond to the educational and social-emotional challenges military-connected children face during their transition to a new school. The Purple Star designation for military-friendly schools in any state recognizes schools that show a major commitment to students and families connected to our nation’s military. Military-connected refers to children of service members on active duty, National Guard, Reserves and veterans. A military connection could also be to any family member – parent, grandparent, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, or cousin. The Purple Star School designation is the brainchild of Mr. Peter LuPiba, Navy veteran and Ohio’s Commissioner for Military Children Interstate Compact Commission (MIC3).


How to Contact a Purple Star School

Please consider supporting a Purple Star School by reaching out to the designated military family liaison at a school district in your area. Simply research Purple Star Schools in your state online. Supporting a Purple Star School also goes hand in hand with Community Classroom or Literacy Promotion or DAR Scholarship. It would be awesome if a Military child applied for and received a DAR Scholarship. We do have a letter template available for your use. Please send an email to DARProjectPatriot@nsdar.org  to request the template or go online to our committee web page on the members’ website.


My Experience as a Military Kid

On a personal note, there are three consecutive generations of military children in my family. My father, my children, and I are military children. I was born at Bethesda Naval Hospital (now Walter Reed National Military Medical Center). During my time as a military child, I moved seven times including to Puerto Rico and Morocco. I have very vivid memories of my childhood adventure. I enlisted in the Navy and then met my husband who was a Marine.  Our children experienced several moves during their military adventure. Our son continues the military journey as a Soldier in the Ohio National Guard. When the time comes, it will be interesting to see how his kids handle "adventure”.

If a Purple Star School in your area has a project that needs funding, please reach out to the DAR Project Patriot Committee. We would like to support Purple Star Schools with their needs.   I hope these ideas are helpful to use. It does require that you research information yourself. However, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to me.



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Comments

Carla Lown
05-10-2023 12:47 AM

I am coming to this late (brand new DAR member, just learning my way around) but thank you for posting this. I am a “military brat”…daughter of a 22-year Air Force officer (pilot), and I very much appreciate your comments here, as I was not even aware of this.