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Storytime has no boundaries - deployed members read to their children across the miles

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Donna T. Jeffries
  • 514th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. --  Wing members are taking advantage of a storybook program that allows them to send a gift of love to their children that they can enjoy while the member is deployed.

The United Through Reading Military Program provides books for deploying members to choose from and then a video recording is made of the Airman reading the book. Once the recording is complete, the DVD is packaged with the book and mailed to the Airman's child.

This unique program lets children continue to enjoy the tradition of storytime while simultaneously receiving special messages of love and support from their parent. It also momentarily lessens the distance between parent and child as the child actually sees the parent's expressions while listening to his or her voice.

The United Service Organization, in partnership with United Through Reading offers, this reading program and encourages the parent at home to record his or her child watching the DVD. The parent at home can then send that video to the deployed member as a way of saying thank you.

"There is no end to books to choose from," said M.J. Flammer, USO of Pennsylvania & Southern New Jersey operations manager. Books are being donated by schools, civic organizations and retailers.

Visit www.uso.org or www.unitedthroughreading.org for more information.