Created at Ft. Bragg/Pope Air Force Base in Fayetteville, N.C., in 2004, ASYMCA’s Operation Kid Comfort is designed to address the emotional stress that children of military personnel suffer during a parent’s absence from home. Operation Kid Comfort serves children, ages 5 and under, of deployed service members.

The Program
ASYMCA volunteers collect photographs from military families to make “photo-transfer” quilts that bear the images of the deployed family member, alone or interacting with the family. With the help of local quilting artists, volunteers are taught the basic steps of quilt making, how to crop and scan pictures, preparation of the fabric, and use of equipment. Photographs of the deployed parent are scanned into a computer, printed, and then placed onto the fabric. The quilt is then given to the child to play with, sleep with, or use to comfort them from the grief of missing their deployed parent.
ASYMCA is working to launch Operation Kid Comfort nationwide. For more information, please contact Susan Simms at 703-313-9600 or ssimms@asymca.org.

ASYMCA National Executive Director Frank Gallo Displays Operation Kid Comfort Quilt