Books on Bases, Smiles on Faces kicks off

Photo By Spc. Stephen Brannelly | North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue reads to students from William T. Brown Elementary School during the national kick-off event for the Books on Bases, Smiles on Faces program. "Our program will make the library resources more robust and encourage military families to use them," said Claire Woodward, the Blue Star Families Executive Director. "Including military-impacted public schools in the effort to help bridge the gap between military families and the greater community, who will also benefit from the books. Our program will also hopefully remind the public about the service and dedication of our military families, and possibly encourage the service in others."  

UNITED STATES

09.15.2009

Story by Spc. Stephen Brannelly 

49th Public Affairs Detachment   

"With books, you can go anywhere, you can do anything, you can be anyone."

NASCAR driver and Duke University student Paulie Harraka shared this sentiment with an audience of school children at the kick-off event of the Books on Bases, Smiles on Faces program at William T. Brown Elementary in Spring Lake, N.C., Sept. 10.

Begun this year by Blue Star Families and Kids In Distressed Situations, Inc., the Books on Bases, Smiles on Faces program seeks to ease the unique stresses military children face with what some refer to as the "healing power" of books.

"For a child, developing a focus in reading and an interest in books can help him or her deal with life issues and heal wounds," said Dr. Marc Atkins, the Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of Illinois at Chicago. "In many ways, children can heal by experiencing something in someone else's shoes."

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics web site www.aap.org, children of parents who are deployed during wartime experience ambiguous loss and stress, often beyond normal levels, that may become toxic if not addressed in a timely manner.

"Military children are more affected than anybody else, with deployments and being moved from place to place repeatedly," Harraka said.

North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue was also on hand for the day's events. North Carolina is a state with a large military presence and thousands of children whose lives are affected in one way or another by deployments. Perdue took time to not only attend the event, but also to read a book about military families to the children.

Several of the speakers and organizers at the Spring Lake event wistfully recalled favorite books that helped them through stressful times as children.

"I always loved Ramona the Great, the Ramona Quimby books and Harriet the Spy," said Claire Woodward, Executive Director of Blue Star Families. "All the girl power books were very encouraging," she added.

"I was a big fan of the Berenstein Bears series when I was young," said Harraka.

He went on to summarize the program's importance, as he saw it, for military children. "You learn a little bit from everything you read, even if you don't realize it. And for military kids especially, reading is a great way for them to shut out everyday stresses and escape for a while to their own world."

"Collecting, sorting and delivering the books was a daunting task," said Woodward. But that wasn't the most difficult part. "When we were unpacking these books, it was very hard not to just sit down, crack open a book and start reading."

Books on Bases, Smiles on Faces gave away over 4,000 books to 20 military-impacted schools, three base libraries and every Department of Defense school in the state.

"Including military impacted schools along with DoD schools and base libraries also helps bridge the gap between military families and the greater community, who will also benefit from the books," said Woodward.

Blue Star Families and K.I.D.S. plan to distribute 10,000 books in 2009 and more each year until they reach their goal of providing 100,000 books to military children and those in surrounding communities.

• Date Taken: 09.15.2009
• Date Posted: 09.16.2009 14:10
• Story ID: 38866
• Location: US