Alabama 4-H to Assist Youth of Military Families Aug. 9-10 in Montgomery

August 06, 2008

Alabama 4-H and its partner Operation: Military Kids will host workshops Aug. 9 and 10 in Montgomery for Alabama children whose parents are military personnel. The Beyond the Yellow Ribbon program will be from 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. at the Renaissance Conference Center in downtown Montgomery. The program is sponsored by the National Guard and is designed to assist returning deployed personnel re-integrate into family and community life.

On Saturday, Aug. 9, Alabama 4-H and Operation: Military Kids will host workshops for the children. More than a dozen Montgomery-area Alabama 4-H'ers and 4-H adult volunteer leaders will help children learn about a variety of projects, including rocketry, no-sew pillows, leather crafts, fish print T-shirts and scrapbooking.

About 100 youth are expected to participate in these programs while their parents attend training sessions in handling legal matters, meeting family needs, coping and dealing with other aspects of re-integrating following deployment.

Operation: Military Kids is a national outreach administered through the federal government and 4-H programs to provide assistance to youth of deployed parents. Currently, 41 states including Alabama and the District of Columbia have Operation: Military Kids programs.

Operation: Military Kids-Alabama is a partnership of Army Child and Youth Services, USDA National 4-H Headquarters and Alabama 4-H and Youth Development, a program of the Alabama Cooperative Extension System.

For more information, contact Charlene Morse Hines, state Operation: Military Kids coordinator, at (334) 844-2294 (office), (334)734-2336 (mobile) or hinescm@aces.edu. More information is available at http://www.aces.edu/omk/.

Posted by dreynold on August 6, 2008 04:37 PM
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