Career Step, an online school offering career-focused education and corporate training, and a partner for over 150 colleges and universities nationwide, will donate over $5500 to the National Military Family Association (NMFA) in celebration of the national military family appreciation month. The donation which began in November through activating Career Step’s referral program will be made in December.
The donation will be aimed to support the Operation Purple® program which has helped nearly 48,000 children who have a deployed, active-duty parent. The donations were gathered by promising to donate $50 for every new student who was referred and enrolled in November 2013 to the company’s educational programs. According to Tim Reynolds, Career Step’s military liaison, this is the second year in a row that Career Step has worked with referrers to donate to Operation Purple® in celebration of the national military family appreciation month.
“Military families sacrifice so much, and we’re very proud to support them through initiatives like this donation drive as well as participation in the MyCAA education funding program and the Military Spouse Employment Partnership,” says Reynolds.
Joyce Raezer, executive director of the National Military Family Association expresses gratitude for the donation and the support because it enhances the association’s ability to assist and support children with deployed parents. “Military children are experiencing stress and anxiety at levels as much as 2.5 times that of other children, and our Operation Purple® camps are designed to help by teaching them ways to cope, introducing them to others in similar situations, and providing a fun outlet,” explains Raezor.
Operation Purple® is a program run by the National Military Family Association, which offers a free week of summer fun for military children with parents who have been or are currently deployed to theaters of war. The goal of the program is to give children mental tools and a larger capacity to help deal with stress that result from a parent’s absence and overseas deployment. It aims to do so by providing a fun and collegiate atmosphere for children with peers who are in similar circumstances.
