Become a Month of the Military Child Sponsor!
Kids Rank is seeking your support for our Month of the Military Child (MoMC) celebration, designed to celebrate and bring awareness around the awesome, but often, overlooked and underserved military children in local neighborhoods.
Recognizing the gap in services for addressing the many challenges, stresses, and anxieties military children endure throughout their developmental stages, Kids Rank, a 501c(3) service-based organization, was established specifically to provide stability and support to military-connected children by nurturing their social and emotional growth through connection, leadership, and community service.
Our organization will host a series of events in April, which was federally designated as the Month of the Military Child to recognize that military-connected children shoulder the burdens of service.[i] Our events are designed to celebrate military children while highlighting the programming and curriculum we work tirelessly to develop and execute in support of military kids. But moreover, they are designed to be low-to-no-cost and inclusive of all military families. We would love your support of programming for the month in the form of a community grant or sponsorship.
Over 80% of military children attend schools in the civilian communities they currently call home. Kids Rank partners with schools throughout the North Shore and North Chicago areas to provide programming that supports military children in their student bodies. We have a proven track record of service and making significant impacts in the lives of military kids through our programming, evidenced by our growth from just over 50 to nearly 200 Lake County area children enrolled in our programs over the past 3 years.
Your sponsorship will go directly to supporting the operational costs of facilitating MoMC programming and events. In the past five years, our MoMC events have grown to sell out, accommodating more than 300 children, families and guests who attend in support of the great military kids in their communities. Events during this month are a part of our fundraising efforts to support capacity building endeavors of the organization for our 2024-2025 program year that include: program expansion and development, staff training, community outreach, and operational expenses. With your assistance, we will be able to meet our budget goals and expand the opportunity to empower military children throughout the country.
[i] Secretary of Defense Caspar W. Weinberger designated each April as "The Month of the Military Child" in 1986 as a way to recognize contributions that some 1.9 million U.S. military children make as their parent or parents serve our states and nation. Permanent-change-of-station moves, deployments and training activities, among other facets of military life, present unique challenges to children who must constantly adjust to distance, unfamiliarity and uncertain schedules, and bear the burden of their parent or guardians service: frequent moves leaving friends, schools, and communities behind; enduring deployments and separations resulting in goodbyes with no known timelines and spending months or even years on end away from their loved ones; celebrations of birthdays, holidays, graduations, and other important milestones with just a phone call or virtual hug; and even the post-service precariousness of living with or caring for veteran loved ones who still carry the visible and invisible wounds and injuries of service.