Operation Purple Offers Free Summer Camps to Military Kids

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, June 2, 2004 – 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 in 11 states and the U.S. territory of Guam 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.

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.

For more specific information on the camps and for application instructions, visit the program's Web site.

Related Sites:
Operation Purple