The San Antonio Chamber of Commerce’s Military Affairs Council challenges you to “Go Purple” throughout the Month of April, but specifically on Friday, April 17th. Even while practicing today’s social distancing, we encourage you to show your support for our military children - wear purple during your next Zoom meeting, find a creative purple background and light up your businesses and homes purple.
The designation of April as the Month of the Military Child was established in 1986 by the former Secretary of Defense, Caspar Weinberger. This act acknowledged the significant role military-affiliated youth play in our communities. Purple is the combined color of all the joint services, so our military impacted-communities, families, and supporters are asked to wear purple during this month to recognize the challenge of being a military child: making frequent moves, living through multiple deployments and separations from their Military serving parent, finding new friends and moving to new schools, oftentimes while being miles apart from extended family and loved ones.
“At our school, nearly 95% of the students are military-connected. Knowing this, we intentionally focus on social-emotional learning, acknowledge resilience, and address underlying trauma and anxieties in an effort to assure those who serve that their children are provided with a world-class educational experience,” said Dr. Joseph Cerna, the Principal at Fort Sam Houston Elementary School.
To bring more awareness to celebrating our military children year-round an organization was created at the beginning of this year called Purple Up USA. Their mission is to celebrate the children of our military service members and to share information and resources available to support them. There are many established organizations and government agencies available to support our military children, as well as area schools who focus on celebrating them during this month. “Purple Up USA reminds those in education, as well as the numerous community partners throughout the city, that the great sacrifices of those in military service are made by military- connected children too,” Dr. Cerna continues. For more details visit www.purpleupusa.org.
Texas has designated April 17th as “Purple Up” day. Don’t forget to share your purple pride by sending photos to celebrate@purpleupusa.org, add the hashtags #purpleupusa or tag on twitter @purpleupusa.
