Fairbanks community honors Month of the Military Child with April events

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTUU) - April is the Month of the Military Child, and while the National Military Family Association is offering “Operation Purple Camp” for children of military parents to learn resilience and confidence, events at Fort Wainwright and Pioneer Park also aim to bring the community together to honor the sacrifices made by military families.

According to Fairbanks North Star Borough Mayor Grier Hopkins, the observance has a long history in Fairbanks. He also said there are many sacrifices that military kids make, including having to move regularly and coping with parents serving on the front lines.

“It’s a different type of life than many of us grew up with,” Hopkins said, “but important to the nation’s security, and the partnerships we have here locally with the school district and our bases.”

With Fort Wainwright, Eielson Air Force Base, Fort Greely, and Clear Space Force Station lying within the Interior, much of the region’s population is military-affiliated.

The borough’s Community Research Quarterly for the second quarter of 2024 calculates that more than 23,000 people live on either Fort Wainwright or Eielson AFB.

“Making sure we recognize, and reach out to them, and say, ‘Welcome to our community,’ and do what we can with events just like this,” Hopkins explained, “is important for fostering that partnership and making sure those servicemembers important to our nation’s security are welcomed here in our community.”

The Pioneer Park event, called “A Day in the Life Activity Fair,” is scheduled for April 26 at 11 a.m., with free activities taking place at the Centennial Center.

“The event and the activities are for everybody in our community,“ Hopkins said. ”We have an incredible veterans population, and families, and service members, but they interact with the entire public, and so this event, this Month of the Military Child event. is for everybody."

Hopkins said the event will include games and door prizes and is going to be put on in coordination with the Fairbanks Arts Association. It is also the third annual event of its kind in Fairbanks.

“It’s always important to be seen, especially for students and children, to understand that they’re not going through their struggles and their efforts alone,” Hopkins said. “So, if we as a community can welcome them, thank them for the work they do, thank their parents and the servicemembers, it’s going to be important to make sure that everybody is seen and appreciated.”

A week before that event, Fort Wainwright plans to host a free carnival on base to “show appreciation for the resilience and strength of military children.”

That April 19 event is scheduled to take place at the School Age Center from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

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