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WASHINGTON D.C. (April 24, 2008) - It was déjà vu in the
Pentagon's center courtyard today, as children gathered with their
parents for arts and crafts as part of 16th annual "Take Our Sons
and Daughters to Work Day."
Last year, about 500 children took part in the event. This year,
about 1,000 children arrived at the nation's top military
headquarters.
For the second year, the event, hosted by the Defense
Department's America Supports You program, featured Connect and
Join and its sponsor. The family support and education services
publishing company organized the day's activities, which included
sand art, T-shirt painting and numerous other craft projects.
Connect and Join is a corporate supporter of America Supports
You, a Defense Department program connecting citizens and companies
with servicemembers and their families serving at home and
abroad.
"We left last year totally exhausted but amazed at the
response," said Linda Dennis, Connect and Join's founder.
But a repeat performance didn't mean it was a carbon copy of
last year. Some of the activities were the same, but there were
some new ones, as well.
"The sand art is real focused on America Supports You," Dennis
said. "(Children) can actually make an America Supports You
logo."
The new twist on the sand art project from last year was joined
by new crafts, including sun-catcher painting, foam crafts and an
expanded T-shirt painting station. "Everything that we coordinated
today is kind of hot, big and things that the kids will love to
use," Dennis said.
One of those items, the Klutz Build-a-Book Kit presented by
Scholastic, features everything needed to create an original
spiral-bound book. It seemed to be a favorite of some of the older
kids.
"It comes in like a little kit, and you get a whole bunch of
little foam stuff and textured backgrounds so you can put it all
together," said Kayla Taylor, 14. "It's really cute."
In addition to a day off from school and some fun crafts, Kayla
said, she was enjoying the building's atmosphere. "I just think
it's really cool that I get to be here, because a whole bunch of
important stuff happens around here," she said.
Kayla's mother, Neshe Taylor, handles budget issues for the
assistant secretary of defense for public affairs' administration
and management office.
Though the younger kids were just having fun decorating small
tote bags or painting sun catchers, some also got an education on
the building itself.
Raylene Walls-Alston, an administrative assistant for the Joint
Chiefs of Staff for eight years, decided her daughter, Jada, 5, was
old enough to appreciate today's events and learn more about what
happened here before she was even born.
"Being here on 9/11, my daughter just hears about the Pentagon
and hears about 9/11, and she knows absolutely nothing about it,"
Walls-Alston said. "I'm telling her the history of the building,
the new side vice the old side."
After a warm morning spent in the courtyard crafting,
Walls-Alston took her daughter inside and gave her a tour of the
building, including the 9/11 memorial.
In the end, Gatlin Edmonds, 5, summed the up what the day was
all about in one simple phrase: "[I'm] working with my daddy," he
said.
Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day is a national public
education program created by the Ms. Foundation in 1993. It was
originally set up to introduce girls to career options, but evolved
to include sons in 2003. This is the fourth year the Pentagon has
recognized the day.
Editor's Note: Military families can also avail
themselves of the Defense Department's America Supports You
program, which highlights home-front groups across the nation that
are providing a variety of services and support to troops and their
families. A listing of these groups and information about their
efforts is available at www.AmericaSupportsYou.mil.
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