November 17, 2019: Being deployed is hard. Not just on the service member, but on the families left back at home. Operation Kid Comfort at the Armed Services YMCA Fort Bragg aims to help the children of deployed soldiers make separation less difficult. Children under the age of 7 receive a baby blanket sized quilt with 9 images of their deployed parent and those children ages 7 and above receive a pillow case with an image of the deployed service member. This program is at no cost to military families.
This program is headed by our Community Relations Manager, Carrie Benick, however the quilts are created entirely by volunteers! Volunteers download and print the photos submitted by families, cut and measure fabric, create "quilt kits" to mail to our quilters throughout the country, and of course sew the quilts! We cannot express out gratitude enough to our hardworking, generous volunteers for their support of military families through this program. Thank you to everyone!
If you are interested in supporting this program through a monetary donation (to pay for shipping of quilts and basic supplies), or would like to donate extra fabric, please contact Michelle Baumgarten at mbaumgarten@asymca.org. If you are interested in volunteering for the program contact Carrie Benick at cbenick@asymca.org.
Below are a couple of notes from families who have received quilts via Operation Kid Comfort: