UMR Communications is offering the latest headlines in the RSS format.
Features
Church center hosts camp for soldiers’ kids Barbara Dunlap-Berg, Jul 27, 2010
UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE PHOTOS BY ANNE RIDDELL
Operation Purple participants learn about plants and animals in New York’s Adirondack Park.
By Barbara Dunlap-Berg United Methodist News Service
Staff at a United Methodist retreat center in upstate New York will host in early August more than 200 special campers—children whose parents are deployed in military service.
Operation Purple, a free camping program sponsored by the National Military Family Association (NMFA), is hosted at Aldersgate Camp in Greig, N.Y., and three other United Methodist sites in North Carolina and Washington State.
“All of these camps have run Operation Purple programs for multiple years with very much success,” said David Riddell, Aldersgate’s Operation Purple camp director.
While Operation Purple receives funds from sources outside the denomination, Mr. Riddell said it is also supported by United Methodist volunteers. In 2009, seven clergy and lay members from throughout central and northern New York helped during the weeklong event.
Bailey Toombs Bernius, a spokeswoman for the NMFA, said the program helps children develop coping skills, which are important because their lives can change in a heartbeat. She said it’s most helpful for kids whose parents serve in the National Guard or Reserves, because they don’t usually know other families in their situation.
Besides outdoor activities, kids get a sense of military life from a deployment-style check-in line, a meal of MRE (meal ready-to-eat) rations, team-building exercises and a service project.
Operation Purple camps serve 10,000 children in the U.S. each summer. In selecting host sites, Ms. Bernius said NMFA chooses “the best of the best.”
Open to everyone
“While military men and women are serving our country, it is an incredible feeling to know we are providing a worthwhile and life-changing experience for their children,” said Deb Townsend, director at Aldersgate. This is the third year the camp has hosted the program.
The children come from a variety of religious backgrounds, and pray before their meals during the camp. “[NMFA asks] that we do not focus on a specific religious background, but remain open to all faiths,” said Mr. Riddell.
“Our staff and volunteers show Christian love and support, knowing these families are going through a very difficult time in their lives,” he said. “Aldersgate’s vision and mission is to provide programs and facilities for people to grow in their relationship to God, and the Operation Purple program allows campers and families to come to a place where they feel safe, accepted and loved.”
The camp provides a “wall of honor,” and campers are encouraged to bring a photo of their deployed parent and to tell the other campers about their mom or dad.
“We emphasize that kids serve too,” Ms. Bernius said. “We thank them for their service and tell them, ‘You’re our heroes too.’”
Mr. Riddell believes Operation Purple makes a difference in the lives of the children’s families.
A mother recently expressed gratitude to the Aldersgate staff for hosting the camp. Her husband, who had suffered severe injuries overseas, had returned home after receiving a medical discharge.
“It has hit the children so hard, and she and I had a long chat,” Mr. Riddell said. “I asked if we could lift her family up in prayer, and she said, ‘Most certainly.’ I was able to pray for her and her family over the phone, that God will heal her husband and bring strength to the whole family as they go through this difficult time.
“This truly confirms that the work that we are doing with the Operation Purple program is a ministry to our military community.”
UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE PHOTOS BY ANNE RIDDELL
The children come from a variety of religious backgrounds, and pray before their meals during the camp. “[NMFA asks] that we do not focus on a specific religious background, but remain open to all faiths,” said Mr. Riddell.
