Reading for Rugrats

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Sahara L. Fales
  • Minot Air Force Base Public Affairs
MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. --  Members of the Minot State University community relations class developed a program for deploying military members and their families on Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota.

Reading for Rugrats is a program designed for Airmen who will deploy or go on a temporary duty assignment to a location away from their families to be able to leave a piece of them at home for their children.

"The program is a way for us to outreach to the community," said Caitlin Dupras, MSU student. "We wanted to look at what our community specifically needed and how we could fulfill that need."

The group has set out bins at various locations throughout the base to collect book donations for kids ages 3-10 to use for the program.

Donation bins can be found at the Base Exchange, Child Development Center, Youth Center and the base library.

Once students have received enough books, parents will be allowed to record their voice reading along to the story. The students will pack the recording with the book and deliver it to the children of the deploying member.

Recording times will take place the last two weeks of March and the first week of April at an undetermined location.

The overall goal of the program is to help alleviate some of the hardships that families with a deployed family member may face, Dupras said.

"If we help even one family's transition be a little easier, then we've succeeded," she added.

For more information please contact Caitlin Dupras, Caitlin.johnson.1@my.minotstateu.edu