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Thinking of children who have deployed parents, the U.S. Army Garrison Kaiserslautern created a program this year at several KMC schools.
***image1***Kids Konnect is set up as monthly visits or celebrations during the school day for about 100 students, said Selinda Torbert, the garrison’s Army Community Service outreach coordinator, who created the program.
“They know somebody outside of their normal life and family cares enough to come and see them, and when they come in, they are so happy to see me,” said Ms. Torbert.
Currently, the program is at the Kaiserslautern and Landstuhl elementary and middle schools. At Kaiserslautern American Elementary School, the garrison is the first and so far, the sole outside organization to have a constant and visible presence for children who have parents deployed.
“This is the first year I’ve had people come in regularly and help with the Deployment Support Center,” said Linda Powlus, one of two KAES guidance counselors who run this program at the school.
Ms. Powlus said the Deployment Support Center is a program for children to have a regularly scheduled time each week to talk with the school’s guidance counselors about the stages they are going through while their parents are deployed. She said the program has been on and off – depending or whether or not there are deployments – at the school since Desert Storm in 1991.
“I think most Department of Defense Dependent Schools and a lot of guidance counselors have some kind of deployment group like ours,” said Elaine Shrock, the other guidance counselor working the Deployment Support Center at KAES.
Kids Konnect programs provide children a chance to do arts-and-crafts, play games and be with other classmates who also have parents deployed, said Ms. Torbert.
“I think it’s an excellent way to show the community, the teachers, students and families that we are all in this together and we do help each other,” said Ms. Shrock.
Organizations and agencies interested in assisting schools in their area with deployment programs for students, can contact the schools’ guidance counselors, and those interested in helping with the Kids Konnect program, can call Ms. Torbert at 489-7521 or e-mail selinda.torbert@eur.army.mil.
