As any military person with family will tell you, the hardest thing about being overseas is being away from his or her children. To help military parents stay connected with their young ones, event coordinator Rene Martin of Quail Ridge Books & Music in Raleigh, North Carolina, initiated an event on Memorial Day weekend that encouraged customers to purchase children’s books for donation to the USO’s United Through Reading program (UTR).
UTR provides a selection of books to active-duty service men and women, who choose one and are recorded on DVD as they read the book aloud. The DVD is then sent to his or her child at home.
Martin organized the UTR event after she was contacted by Catherine Billingsley. “Catherine was absolutely the driving force behind this event,” Martin says. Billingsley’s son-in-law, who has served four tours of duty in Iraq, participated in the United Through Reading program and she saw directly the positive effect the experience had on her grandson Walker.
The photo above shows Walker’s enthusiastic response to his father, Staff Sergeant Steve Bixby, stationed at Al Asad Airbase, outside of Baghdad.
The Quail Ridge event was so successful, Martin and Billingsley are encouraging other bookstores to hold similar events. They're also offering to share their advice on the ins and outs of organizing them—contact Rene Martin at QRBrene@aol.com and/or Catherine Billingsley at billingsleyca@ecu.edu.
Individuals interested in getting involved, click here for a list of ways you can donate to the United Through Reading program.
You’ll be happy to know that Staff Sergeant Bixby came home this month for what he and his family hope is at least a year before being deployed again. He met his three-month-old daughter, Victoria, for the first time and is enjoying reading time—in person—with both of his children.
