Concern and frustration were two of the emotions Melinda Thede said she felt when she learned that her father was being deployed to Afghanistan in July 2003.

“I was worried about whether he’d be safe and return home all in one piece,” said Thede, sophomore in entomology.

Little peer support was available for Thede and her family at the time. She and her family attended informal monthly family support groups, which offered updates and a chance for the members to reach out to one another.

Thede’s father returned home safely in May 2004.

Operation Military Kids is working to raise support for military families, especially children.

“The goal of Operation Military Kids is to connect youth whose parent or parents have been deployed, and we want to do this any way possible,” said Angela Groh, program volunteer and president-elect of the Government of the Student Body.

A national team was put together to create the program, which met for the first time in January 2004. At the meeting, pilot states were chosen based on high deployment rates to test the program. Iowa is one of 20 pilots and Iowa State heads the Iowa team.

“We want to recognize the families as being heroes as well as the soldiers,” said Michael Cooley, market production assistant for the Iowa operation. “The families cover a lot that they never planned to, even little things such as mowing the lawn and repairing the car.”

The national kickoff for Operation Military Kids is 1:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C.

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, is scheduled to host the event, which will include an overview of the program, state perspectives and insights from youth who have a deployed parent.

Representatives from the program’s partners, like Army’s Child and Youth Services and Boys & Girls Clubs of America, will also have an opportunity to speak. Cooley, freshman in agricultural education, will emcee the event.

The program works to help the families directly and inform community members to give them the opportunity to help.

A camp ran by Operation Military Kids is planned for the summer, where youth from across the state can get together, Thede said.

“They can feel more at home with having a parent or sibling deployed, and they don’t have to worry about what people think of them,” said Thede, who is a volunteer for the kids group.

The program is working to develop a Web site to provide a place for the youth to write in online journals, Thede said. This journal would allow the members to see what others are feeling and offer support.

“It would be a good way for the kids to just relay their feelings,” she said.

The program offers educational events to the public to help inform communities how they can help a family. Help from the community includes baby-sitting, running errands and providing support.

The Iowa National Guard has something similar to this with its 75 Family Readiness Groups, support groups for families of deployed guard and reserve soldiers across the state.

Each group has a volunteer leader with contact information for families that have a member deployed.

This leader can contact the family to offer involvement in Operation Military Kids.