The Experiences That We Have
As Children
Shape Our Future
The Comfort Crew is best known for their Comfort Kits.
Designed for school-age children, these four specialized
resource kits address specific challenges and
transitions associated with growing up in a military
family: being separated due to deployments, reconnecting
after a time of separation, having a parent return with
a visible and/or invisible injury, or experiencing grief
over the loss of a family member.
Each Comfort Crew piece uses a unique blend of humor and
personal stories to open kids up to talking about the
"tough stuff." These unique edutainment experiences
allow us to talk about serious subjects in a way that is
accessible to children.
Our experiences of impacting over 500,000 children in
the past ten years, data collected from surveys, and
receiving hundreds of letters from kids, counselors, and
parents (Click Here To See Them
For Yourself) show that what we're doing is
working and we're excited that with the help of people
like you, together we can make these resources available
to every military kid in need.
Learn More About Our Programs
Below & Choose Which Children You Want To
Impact:
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With
You All the Way! Dealing With Deployment
About 138,000 military kids of active duty service
members are affected by deployment annually.
Military children that are separated from their
parents due to deployment experience increased
levels of anxiety, fear and depression. During the
deployment period they often have trouble in school
and become more susceptible to risky behaviors.
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We all appreciate the beautiful homecomings we see in
the media, but what happens next? We hear from families
that sometimes the reintegration process can be as or
more difficult that the deployment. Research shows that
post-deployment families often experience higher levels
of stress, instability, and lower levels of family
functioning including divorce. |
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According to the Department of Defense, over 6,250 US
service members have been killed in action since 9/11.
In addition, a total of 23 veterans and service members
commit suicide each day. About 35.9% of service members
are married with an average of 2 children. |
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Since 9/11, more than 52,000 service members have
returned home from war with visible injuries and an
estimated 400,000 have returned with invisible wounds.
Medical professionals claim that over 20% of service
members are diagnosed with exhibiting symptoms of PTSD.
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Currently, there are 1.2 million school age children
with a parent serving in the US armed forces and
approximately 1 million of these children have
experienced one or more deployments. On top of everyday
youth challenges, military children have to navigate
through additional challenges like moving every 2-3
years and the lingering stress of their parent's
dangerous job. |
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