In 2004, we started small, with a pilot program focused on a National Guard unit from Winchester, Va. The pilot program was extremely successful, and we expanded to help all deployed Reserve and National Guard families living throughout Virginia.

Calls from deploying soldiers were sometimes heartbreaking. Feeling the need to help more children cope with the challenges brought on by lengthy separations, we began covering families living in Maryland, the District of Columbia and, eventually, the entire United States.

In 2008, Our Military Kids expanded its program once again, this time to include children of service members and veterans from all branches of service who were severely injured in post-9/11 combat operations, and whose families were struggling to deal with financial and emotional hardships.