Operation Kid Comfort, founded in 2004, is easing the sadness of separation from a parent by providing children of active duty military personnel with “photo transfer” quilts that contain pictures of the child with their deployed family member, alone or interacting with the family. The quilt is then given to the child to play with, sleep with, or use to comfort them from the grief of missing their deployed parent.

The San Diego Chapter of the American Sewing Guild, in partnership with the San Diego Armed Services YMCA, has sewn approximately 300 lap-sized quilts so far this year. The San Diego ASYMCA provides kits that contain all the materials necessary to complete each quilt.….the only thing they can’t provide is the “person power” to turn the pile of material into a quilt that a child can wrap around them to feel like they are being hugged and comforted by someone special in their life.

The ASYMCA is working to launch Operation Kid Comfort nationwide. If you are interested in helping with this worthwhile project, you can contact Susan Simms at the National office of the Armed Services YMCA in Arlington, VA. at 1-800-597-1263 or 703-313-9600 (email at ssimms@asymca.org.) You can log onto the website www.asymca.org and click on “Find a Branch” to locate an ASYMCA in your area.

 If you are in the Fort Bragg/Pope AFB in Fayetteville, N.C you can contact the founder, Ann Flaherty at operationkidcomfort@gmail.com for more information. If you are in the San Diego, CA area, contact Carol Filbeck at sdasgpres06@aol.com. Log onto www.asymcasd.org/pictures  to view the pictures we have taken of the children with their quilts.  The website for the San Diego ASYMCA is www.asymcasd.org. You can also contact Virginia Ruehrwein, Program Director for Youth and Community Outreach Program or Amy Simpson, ASYMCA Youth Outreach Leader, to get involved.