Military centre reaching out to 'extended family'

Without a military base in the province, the P.E.I. Military Family Resource Centre finds it a challenge to spread the word about what it does.

The centre opened in April. Before that, Island military were served by a satellite office in Moncton that closed in January.

Island families lobbied the national Department of National Defence for a full centre in P.E.I.

Now a centre has been established on the Island, which is great news for military families.

Dwayne Milliganis an engineer with the navy. Both he and his wife are reservists who have been deployed at the same time. This year at the resource family Christmas party his kids had a chance to play with others kids who see theirparents serving the country.

"The kids get together and play and just understand well, that their parents go away a lot. My wife was away seven months this year, so just me and the kids Mr. Mom-ingit up."

Neil Laidlaw is also in the reserves. His deployments are not that long, but when he's gone his wife Adrienhas to keep their four-year-old daughter and five-month-old son from missing daddy.

"Because honestly you need the support, especially when they are away and you are home alone with the kids. It is good to know there are other people in your position."

The centre, located in Charlottetown, provides support to about 350 families, including about 30 members of the regular forces and 300 reservists.

It targets its services at veterans and also wants to reach out to Islanders who have family members connected to military bases elsewhere across Canada.

"We don't know where the families are," said executive director, Donna Earl.

"And when we say families, what we're talking about is not necessarily just spouses and partners. It can be parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents. You have to look at it as being a very extended family. And sometimes it's hard to reach those people when they don't know anything about the Military Family Resource Centre or what we do."

The centre also has an office at Slemon Park in Summerside, with spaces in Alberton and Cardigan where they offer office hours once a week.

It has an annual budget of about $300,000 from the Department of National Defence and it does some local fundraising for P.E.I.-specific projects.