HARRISBURG – Sens. Devlin Robinson (R-37), Greg Rothman (R-34) and Doug Mastriano (R-33) introduced Senate Resolution 248 recognizing April as Month of the Military Children Pennsylvania to support the nearly 37,000 children who have parents currently serving in the United States military.
The resolution also recognizes April 15, 2024, as Purple Up! For Military Kids Day in Pennsylvania to encourage residents to wear purple to symbolize all branches of the United States military. Purple – the color of sacrifice – is a combination of Army green, Navy blue, Air Force blue, Marine red, Coast Guard blue and the dark blue of Space Force.
“Coming from a military family myself, I understand firsthand the sacrifices kids make as their parents serve our country,” said Robinson. “It’s not just those who wear the uniform who serve, but the entire family. This month and every month, we must acknowledge the challenges these families face and give our full support to our military kids – especially when a parent is deployed.”
Eighty percent of Pennsylvania children in military families are school-aged. Frequent moves, reassignments and parental deployments cause disruption in education and supportive networks and require frequent reintegration into new living arrangements and locations.
“Children of service members know all too well the price of freedom. They bear many burdens unknown to civilian families, and they do so with resiliency, selflessness, and strength,” said Rothman. “We owe them our deepest gratitude and full support.”
“As a proud veteran, I am pleased to continue to support not just our soldiers, but their families as well,” said Mastriano, chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee. “We recently passed legislation – Act 69 of 2022 – providing Purple Star recognition to schools that go above and beyond the basic requirements for working with military-connected families and today, with this resolution, we recognize the soldier and his or her family.”
The senators, who are military veterans, will speak on the resolution in the Senate on April 8.
CONTACTS:
Kevin Battle (Robinson)
Morgan Wagner (Rothman)
Josh Herman (Mastriano)