CHEYENNE — On Friday afternoon, F.E. Warren Air Force Base held its annual end-of-summer bash, foam party and Back-to-School Brigade for military kids.
From 1-3 p.m. at Warren Adventure Park, families celebrated the back-to-school season with activities like paintball, ax throwing, disc golf, outdoor archery and hiking.
F.E. Warren teamed up once again with Operation Homefront to donate school supplies to military kids in need. This is their 17th year collaborating.
The Back-to-School Brigade is an annual nationwide campaign by Operation Homefront that collects and distributes school supplies to eligible dependents of service members. Through this assistance program, military children get free back-to-school supplies, including backpacks, to help them start the new school year on the right foot. The Back-to-School Brigade program has been a tremendous success since its inception, with Operation Homefront distributing more than 550,000 backpacks to military children.
According to Operation Homefront’s website, “This program is a crucial resource for military families who face financial hardship or other challenges as they navigate the back-to-school season.
The backpacks provided through the program are of high quality, ensuring children have a durable and reliable backpack to carry their supplies.”
The program also includes a range of other school supplies, such as pencils, paper and other essential items, to help children succeed in the classroom.
Supplies are limited and were on a first-come, first-served registration process, but they do buy extra supplies in case of any walk-ins. These events are for DEERS-enrolled military-dependent children only who will be in kindergarten through grade 12 for the school year.
At this year’s Back-to-School Brigade, Operation Homefront gave out around 100 backpacks. Operation Homefront Program Manager Bridgette Sanchez told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle that Operation Homefront hopes to bump the number up to 200-250 backpacks.
“It’s costly (to buy school supplies), so we definitely like to provide cost relief … we want families to know that if they’re ever in any financial struggle, our goal is to give them a hand up, not a handout and provide any financial assistance we can,” said Sanchez.
Many families came out to the foam party, including the Harbeson family. Lisa Harbeson has been in Cheyenne with her husband, who’s in the Wyoming Air National Guard, for 13 years and they lived on base for four of those years. Although Harbeson and her two kids live off-base now, they’re still close with the community.
Harbeson said, “I love the fact that there are so many services (like Operation Homefront) that people don’t know about, and I know that if I need the support, I know it’s there … (we got supplies) and it was very helpful.”
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