Sierra Magazine: November/December 2008 Big Fun in the Green Zone
The kids of our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan get their own R & R. Operation Purple camps give military kids a break from coping with the absence of a parent.
Kitsap Sun: Aug. 21, 2008 At Camp, Coping Skills Taught Between the Fun and Games
There are 110 teens attending the camp this week. It's funded with a grant from the Sierra Club, which believes that nature has power to ease the stress the kids are under when a parent is away.
Reuters: Aug. 28, 2008 Camps for U.S. military kids aim to ease anxieties
Operation Purple began in 2004 with 12 camps for nearly 1,000 children. This year 10,000 attended camps around the United States in a $6 million program whose sponsors include the Sierra Club and the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation.
PBS NewsHour with Jim Lehrer: July 18, 2008
Video: Summer Camp Helps Children of Deployed Parents
Every summer at Operation Purple Camp in Colorado, more than half of the campers are children whose parents are deployed in military service. Spencer Michels visits the nurturing site for youth with special needs.
Mail Tribune: July 17, 2008 Kids Share War Stories at Camp
Whether it was horseback riding, shooting arrows, canoeing or swinging from the largest bungee chord at a weeklong camp outside of Salem, Shauntel Valdez found peace while embedded among some of war's most innocent collateral damage.
CNN.com: July 2, 2008 Life of a military boy: 'My heart kind of dropped'
This story describes the challenges that military children face and how Operation Purple provides an opportunity for these kids to experience a fun week of camp.
Outward Bound:
Military Times: Sept. 30, 2008 Together to the Top
12,893 feet of Alpine adventure heals wounds that time cannot
Military Times: July 28, 2008 Get your life on course Free Outward Bound wilderness courses for 1500 vets
July 03, 2008: Belvoir Eagle Free wilderness adventures offered to returning war vets
Outward Bound, a provider of experiential education in the United States, announced official opening of registration for its newly funded wilderness expeditions which are specifically designed for Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom veterans.
Armed Forces Press: June 12, 2008 America Supports You:
Veterans Get Chance to Push Physical, Mental Limits
May 20, 2008: Marines TV, Outward Bound
The Golden Transcript, Outward Bound to Help Veterans May 15, 2008
Excerpt: Adrian Maldonado, Jr., now can laugh about the night he spent soaking wet, wearing a makeshift poncho jerry-rigged from a garbage bag, hanging out with a former Navy medic and a New York Times reporter. “It was miserable then, but its kind of funny when you look back at it,” said Maldonado, a former corporal in the Marines who returned from his second tour in Iraq in 2004. Maldonado’s damp experience took place during and Outward Bound program focused on helping returning veterans re-acclimate to civilian life. Outward Bound runs programs that seek to inspire character development and self-confidence in its participants through wilderness challenges, such as ropes courses, rock climbing, canoeing, backpacking and group activities. They work with children, teenagers, adults and veterans. Click here to read more.
Killeen Daily Herald – August 15, 2008 YMCA offers Army families adventure, unity
45 military dependents are participating in a resident camp sponsored by the Killeen Armed Services YMCA and funded by a grant from the Sierra Club.
Salina Journal – July 10, 2008 Stayin' Active
Camp keeps deployed soldiers’ children active, supported
November 11, 2007 | Associated Press Military Families Reconnect at Retreats
Separated by Army deployments for nearly half of their 13-year marriage, Nancy and Sherwood Smith were eager to reconnect — especially after his tour in Iraq last year. Fortunately for the couple, the local chapter of the Armed Services YMCA is treating them to a weekend getaway at a rustic lodge in Kansas' Flint Hills. Full Article.
