Donate a book for kids in military families

Submitted by University of Illinois Extension

When deployment tours can last up to 15 months, many military personnel often find they spend more time overseas than at home.

Coping with family separations and maintaining connections with deployed family members becomes vital, especially for children. Reading aloud to children is a proven technique to help them cope with the stress and anxiety of separation from a parent.

A suggested list of books is available on the Illinois 4-H military web site, web.extension.uiuc.edu/state4h/military, under “Resources.”

This list is a guide that identifies age-appropriate reading selections to help young readers deal with the issue of family separations. Local community members could purchase books on this list for local military families or donate books to their local library or school.

Statistics from the Office of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense state that more than half of active military members are married and approximately 43 percent have children. Providing those children with the tools they need is a great way to support literacy and help the youth of military families.

The Illinois 4-H Military Initiative includes Operation Military Kids, a national program that the Illinois 4-H program has been a part of since 2005. It is a partnership with the Department of Defense and provides research-based positive youth development programs to Illinois’ military families.

For more information about the Illinois 4-H Operation Military Kids Initiative, contact Pat McGlaughlin at (217) 333-0910 or Linda Kupferschmid at (217) 265-8209, or visit web.extension.uiuc.edu/state4h/military.

4-H is the largest out-of-school education youth program in the United States. 4-H seeks to assist youth in acquiring knowledge, forming attitudes and developing life skills that enable them to become caring, competent and contributing members of society.

In Illinois, more than 268,000 youth participate in University of Illinois Extension 4-H clubs and programs. More than 23,600 adult volunteers assist in programming for the youth.

For details, visit web.extension.illinois.edu/state4h/.