Photo By Nell King | Lila Bennett high-fives North Carolina State University's mascot, Mr. Wuf, March 7 at...... read more read more
JOINT BASE MYER-HENDERSON HALL, Va. - Fourteen different mascots from major colleges within the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s Atlantic Coast Conference descended upon the fitness center on the Fort Myer portion of Joint Base Myer Henderson-Hall March 7 to interact with Gold Star families.
Mascots from universities, including Virginia Tech and University of Virginia, came to spread joy to families, according to Tim Lynde, senior associate commissioner of brand marketing for the ACC.
“Everywhere the mascots go we hope to bring people joy,” Lynde said. “We’ve [toured] all over D.C.…and we have made a bunch of friends.”
Children hugged, took pictures and played basketball with the mascots. The older youth, mostly young teenagers, danced to “The Cupid Shuffle,” an urban line dance, the Macarena, and also played basketball with the mascots.
Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), an organization that seeks the well-being of families who have lost loved ones during combat, and JBM-HH’s Survivor Outreach Services, an organization that “provides long term support to surviving families of fallen Soldiers,” according to their website, partnered with New York Life Foundation TAPS to bring mascots to the joint base.
“These kinds of events are important for our survivors [so] that their sacrifices are not forgotten,” said Kristi Pappas, support coordinator at Survivor Outreach Services. “Many of our survivors are young families who have lost a mother or father.”
Maria Collins, vice president of the New York Life Foundation, said the event was an opportunity to carve out space to allow children just to be children.
“You have to be a kid and you have to enjoy life,” she said.
“Unfortunately, when you lose someone, you will always remember them—and you will always feel that sadness, but sometimes you want to be taken out and just have a good time and be a kid. And they need to be kids and they need to enjoy themselves. And what a better way.”
This event was helpful to the Deck family.
Crystal Deck, along with her four children—Reese, 17, Madi, 15, Lexi, 14 and Sean 7—attended the event. Ten years ago, according to Deck, her significant other, Michael V. Johnson, who was a hospital corpsman in the U.S. Navy, died in Iraq. And her oldest son, Reese, suffers from “chronic malnutrition, encephalopathy, and osteogenesis imperfecta (brittle bone).”
“Reese has a gastrostomy tube and he receives all of his nutrition via the tube,” said Deck. “He is fed a special medical formula over 12 hours each day. He takes very little, if nothing, via the mouth and his digestive system doesn’t work, so everything that he eats comes back up and he has difficulty using the bathroom.”
Yet, despite his multiple illnesses, Reese came to the event just to see the mascots and to play some basketball.
“It is good for us to come here,” said Deck. “It helps us to get away from everything [for a while]. [My kids] aren’t too impressed by many things, but these mascots seem to be showing them a good time.”
In addition to providing connection with other military families, the mascots could be a reminder to the families of the educational legacies left by lost loved ones and serve as inspiration to the children, according to Diana Hosford, director of Teams 4 TAPS.
“There could be a child in there whose loved one could have gone to one of those schools the mascot is representing,” added Hosford. “So [this] is special. “It is a special way to have fun and be back in an environment where they’re with their military families.”
JBM-HH Commander Col. Mike Henderson said that TAPS’s commitment to helping families across the country is “just phenomenal” and the way they use their programs to connect military families and provide emotional help is “beyond words.”
The event ended with mascots taking a group photo with parents, children and representatives from the partner organizations. After the fun, families were treated to ice cream.
| Date Taken: | 03.10.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 03.10.2016 17:16 |
| Story ID: | 191987 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE MYER-HENDERSON HALL, VA, US |
| Web Views: | 55 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Atlantic Coast Conference mascots help greet children of fallen combat troops, by Delonte Harrod, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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