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USO of Hampton Roads and Central Virginia

One of the most rewarding days for the USO of Hampton Roads and Central Virginia has to be the yearly visit to Kings Dominion with a group of exceptional children. Every summer, with the help of Cedar Fair’s Kings Dominion, the USO of Hampton Roads and Central Virginia offers a day of fun for military families who have children with serious or life threatening illnesses and children who are wheelchair bound.

The Exceptional Family Member Program is a mandatory Department of Defense enrollment program that works with other military and civilian agencies to provide community support, housing, educational, medical, and personnel services to U.S. military families with special needs. The USO of Hampton Roads and Central Virginia is able to provide this Outreach Program through the partnership with Kings Dominion, the help of the parks’ staff and the support of the Joint Military Exceptional Family Member Committee. Arrangements made for this special day include free admission into the Park, medical staff to be on hand, handicap accessibility to rides, a group picnic and a special show.

“The EFMP Coordinators always look forward to this day” says Ursula, EFMP Coordinator Family Support at Joint Base Langley Eustis, “We enjoy being able to meet our EFMP families in a fun, family-oriented environment as opposed to the more serious situations in which we are meeting the families.” Ursula and her husband, a Master Sergeant at Joint base Langley-Eustis, have experienced firsthand the hardships of being an EFMP family. “I think this means so much to the EFMP families in the Hampton Roads and the Central Virginia area, because it gives the families something tangible to show that the community cares about them.

For more information about the programs and services offered by the USO of Hampton Roads and Central Virginia, please visit our website: www.usohrcv.com or find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/usohrcv. To support the USO of Hampton Roads and Central Virginia in the 2011 CVC Campaign, please designate CVC #5031.