Summer camps open to children of service members

Dick Benoit

Thursday, June 10, 2004 | 9:36 a.m.

Utah camp

Interested parents of eligible Nevada military youth can register for a camp at Hill Air Force Base, Ogden, Utah, through the Web site at nmfa.org/programs/operationpurple/index.php, where additional information is also available.

A major American corporation and a military-related nonprofit organization are partnering to send military kids to camp this summer. The National Military Family Association and Sears, Roebuck and Co. are working together to make Operation Purple possible.

Operation Purple gives military children a chance to attend summer camp. In most cases, preference is given to those children with a deployed or recently redeployed parent.

The program "allows children from all branches to interact with and learn from each other in an effort to help deal with deployment-related stress," according to the National Military Family Association Web site.

Operation Purple camps are in Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Montana, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah and Washington state, as well as Guam.

According to Bonnie Benoit, Outdoor Adventure Camp coordinator at Hill Air Force Base, near Ogden, Utah, the camp there, scheduled for June 28 through July 2, is not restricted to military youth in the Ogden area or Utah. She said that interested parents of eligible Nevada military youth can register for the camp through the Web site at nmfa.org/programs/operationpurple/index.php, where additional information is also available.

Shuttles to and from the Salt Lake City International Airport will be provided, according to Benoit. She noted that parents with additional questions after visiting the Web site should call the Hill Air Force Base Youth Center at (801) 777-2419.

Many of the camps are further sponsored or held on military bases. Age requirements, number of openings and dates of the camps vary by location.

In brief