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, December 20, 2010

Lilly Endowment Steps Up

Lilly Endowment Inc. has given $6.3 million to the Military Family Research Institute at Purdue. "Millions of military families in our country are recovering from, or still experiencing, challenges related to combat deployment," says the institute's director, Shelley MacDermid Wadsworth.
"Our state and our nation are in a critical period that will determine whether recent veterans will suffer the same troubling levels of poverty, homelessness and health problems experienced by their predecessors. If we fail to do a good job of serving those who have served our country, we all will pay the price."
The Military Family Research Institute's (MFRI) efforts include Passport Toward Success, helping military children and families reconnect after deployment. Also, mini-grants of up to $2,500 are provided to Family Readiness and Community Mobilization groups developing community activities to help military families. Operation Purple Camp, a free camp for military children that I have written about in the past, also runs a campsite at Purdue. Its funding was jeopardized by the loss of its main donor last year. The photo at right is of campers at one of its many sites. Operation Diploma, supports college and university programs that help veterans succeed on campus.
"MFRI's goal is to make Indiana a better place for military families and to generate tools and insights here that can benefit military families everywhere," said Wadsworth, who is a professor of child development and family studies at Purdue.
Lilly Endowment Inc. is an Indianapolis-based, philanthropic foundation. The Military Family Research Institute, part of the Center for Families in Purdue's College of Health and Human Sciences, is the leading academic institution in the country specializing in research about military families.

For more information, click here.
Posted by About AART at 7:22 AM

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