The Mid-Dakota Chapter of the American Red Cross announced Tuesday it is launching a new program in the Minot area designed to assist the families of deployed soldiers in any branch of the military.
Susan Ewert, emergency services director for the Mid-Dakota Chapter, said Tuesday that Services to Armed Forces: Operation Encourage Families will be launched in the near future as soon as the appropriate families and volunteers can be located and matched together.
"Bismarck and Mandan were the pilot program for it," Ewert said. "They had such success that we decided to take it on here. With the air base, I'm sure we'll have lots of families."
Ewert said the local chapter is looking for families that want to sign up to receive any of the services, as well as people nominating other families to receive them.
"We're also looking for the volunteer side as well, because we match a volunteer who's going to cook for a family for a year or while someone's deployed with a family," she said. "It's something good that gives the whole family a break."
Volunteers learn what foods a family's children like or what family members are allergic to, and prepare a full meal once a week either by dropping it off or by preparing it in the family's home.
Another aspect of the operation centers on volunteers coming into the family's home for an hour to 90 minutes a week to help schoolchildren with their homework and school projects.
Volunteers are asked to commit to the length of the deployment and up to a year upon a soldier's return, as reuniting with the family can present its own set of challenges.
Volunteers will undergo a background check before being sent out in an effort to provide some encouragement and relief from the soldiers' home community.
"It's a great thing," said the ebullient Ewert. "I'm very excited about it."
Anyone interested in the program is asked to contact Ewert by calling 852-2828 or by e-mail at susan.ewert@minotredcross.org.
