When my father, Odysseus, and his men sailed off to the Trojan War, they were confident their gods favored a quick victory. Instead, the siege of Troy lasted ten years. After Troy fell, the survivors made their way home to Sparta, Mycenae, Pylos, and elsewhere in the ancient Peloponnese. Neither my father nor any of his troops arrived home with the rest. We waited for years as the news grew worse. Odysseus was dead, we were told,or imprisoned, or, worst yet, he had married another woman and abandoned my mother Penelope, my brother Telemachus, and me.


If he is alive somewhere, his thoughts may wander to Penelope and Telemachus, but he won’t be thinking of me. I am the daughter he doesn’t know exists. Odysseus went off to the Trojan War when his son, Telemachus, was barely old enough to walk. His wife, Penelope, was a teenage bride, and is now a young wife, mother, and queen who has to try to rule Ithaca without him.


I was born seven months after he left. I am a hero’s daughter and a princess of his realm, but I have lived my entire life without a father. I’m nineteen now, and still waiting.


All over the world, and throughout history children grow up as I have. This website will focus on the children of those men and women who have gone off to fight America's wars, and provide information and resources for all who care about military families and want to help.

Monday, November 22, 2010

No Money, No Relief

We’ve probably all been hurt in some way, or at least frightened by the economic downturn, but as we are often reminded, it’s often those who are already disadvantaged who are hurt first, and hardest. USA Today’s story, Donor's millions for military causes drying up tells of how one of the best programs for military children, Operation Purple Camp, is threatened with extinction, along with dozens of other compassionate and effective services for limitary children. Operation Purple camps provide children of deployed or wounded servicemembers, and military families struggling to rebuild their relationships after deployment, a chance (as one military wife and mother put it)  "to have fun and smile and not worry all the time."
Between 2005 and 2009, Californian David Gelbaum gave $275 million to charities supporting servicemembers,veterans and their families through an organization he called the Iraq and Afghanistan Deployment Impact Fund. It was the largest individual donation ever made for this purpose. The money is now running out. Gelbaum invested hundreds of millions of dollars in green-technology start-ups that have not yet, or may never, return the investment. Ninety percent of his fortune has now gone to charity or taxes, Gelbaum estimates, and he lacks the means to continue his fund.  His contributions supported more than 50 non-profit organizations, which are all now facing drastic reductions or closure.
The National Military Family Association says 7,500 fewer children will go to Operation Purple camps next year unless other funding is found. Air Compassion for Veterans, which provides convalescing troops with airline tickets to travel home for the holidays has turned down over 100 requests in the last few weeks for lack of funds. It also buys commercial air tickets or air ambulance services for servicemembers who need to fly to medical appointments or for families reuniting with wounded loved ones Since the money dried up last June,they have filled only 18 percent of requests. The Pathway Home, a residential and day treatment center for servicemembers and veterans with mental health and brain injury problems has cut bed capacity from 46 to 28, and is running now on dwindling funds. Swords to Plowshares provides free legal assistance to about 440 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans fighting denial of  benefits. Losing funding dramatically reduces their opportunity for the legal representation they need to be able to get on with their lives. 
The end of Gelbaum’s funding, coupled with the uncertainty of federal funds, means that half the 10,000 grants provided to children of deployed National Guard and reserve troops for tutoring, sports and fine arts programs each year, according to  Linda Davidson, executive director of Our Military Kids.With the end of Gelbaum’s funding,  Homes for Our Troops lost 30% of its revenue. Since 2004, the non-profit program has built or is building 100 specially adapted houses for severely wounded Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. The Coming Home Project sponsored a number of retreats to train health providers who care for veterans. Only one retreat is set for next year, and that has yet to be funded by another means. 
In this week of giving thanks, perhaps you can take a minute to think about giving a little to one of these charities or to another benefiting military families.  The need is great, and our obligation is obvious.

Posted by About AART at 7:25 AM

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