YMCA celebrates the Military Child

By BRITTANY FHOLER

Cove Leader-Press

April is the Month of the Military Child and the Armed Services YMCA and Copperas Cove Independent School District teamed up for the fifth year in a row to throw an event celebrating the children of military service members Saturday at the YMCA.

The annual celebration was started five years ago when CCISD came to the YMCA about having an event for the Month of the Military Child, according to Copperas Cove YMCA Director, Doreen Vasseur.

Around one-third of CCISD’s student population is military affiliated, according to CCISD Public Information Officer Wendy Sledd.

“I think the importance of celebrating the military child is to remember the children sacrifice just like the soldier does. Families make those moves, they have those same separations during deployments. They may not be under fire on the battle field but they certainly make their sacrifices when they have a military service member,” Sledd said. “So, this is a way for us to thank them for their service by having a celebration today.”

There were Zumba and Refit demonstrations as well as games for kids to play inside the gym and outside. There was a bounce house nestled in the corner between booths for kids to play in. Booths included Navy Federal Credit Union, WIC, Texas A&M Agrilife Extension, Cinergy Cinemas, Rabbit Fest Royalty and the Coryell County Crime Victims Office, who was holding a raffle for two gift baskets.

Outside, there were military vehicles as well as an ambulance and a police vehicle and fire truck for kids to check out. There was also a Game Changer gaming truck with video games available for kids and their parents to play.

The Scotty Ray Show provided music for the event, with performances by Nakima Marshall.

The day before the event, Vasseur realized she didn’t have any cakes or cupcakes for the cake walk and put out a request for cakes and cupcakes on Facebook.

“Ask Facebook and you shall get,” Vasseur said.

People brought in close to 35 cakes and packages of cupcakes on Friday and Saturday, Vasseur said. There were so many cakes and cupcakes, they held two cake walks at the event. There was also a hula hooping contest and a game of musical chairs.

There were hot dogs and bags of popcorn as well as bottled water, donated by Navy Federal Credit, available to families.

Vasseur said the celebration event was important because it focuses on the kids.

“A lot of people don’t realize that it’s hard on the kids. Their parents are deployed sometimes, they go through a lot and they just don’t have a chance to have a lot of fun sometimes,” Vasseur said.

Vasseur added that three years ago, the Month of the Military Child Celebration happened the weekend after the April 2 shooting on Fort Hood. The parents thanked Vasseur because the event allowed the kids and their families to focus on something else and have fun, she said.

Melissa Aguilar was at the event with her son Julian, 6, and daughter Patricia, 4, as well as a friend’s children, all of whom are military children. Aguilar said she liked the event and that the kids played all the games and won goody bags. She said that celebrating the military child was important because they are impacted so much by their parents being in the military.

“A lot of times the focus is on the military person or even the spouse and sometimes the child, is I don’t want to say overlooked, but it’s fantastic that we celebrate it and recognize that they are also included in that in their everyday life,” Aguilar said. “Transitioning, moving, adjusting, deployments, TDY [temporary duty assignment], all of that just greatly effects them so celebrating them and showing them how important they are and that they’re recognized as a whole, I think, is really fantastic.”