By: Emily Witter, USO-Metro
Operation Belvoir Babies took place on June 8th at the Warrior and Family Center at Fort Belvoir Army Base. KJ Stevens, the Programs Coordinator at Fort Belvoir's USO Warrior and Family Center said, "We have a couple of area resources. Babies R Us helped sponsor the event along with the New Parent Support Program and Army Community Service from Fort Belvoir."
Operation Belvoir Babies is one of USO-Metro's most popular programs among military spouses and active duty moms and soon-to-be moms.
The event included a dirty diaper game where expecting moms had to guess which candy bar was melted into diapers. The games also consisted of a baby food taste test and a diaper race where they put a cloth diaper on water balloons with safety pins. There was a quiz station to have women guess how many centimeters they were around, along with a celebrity baby quiz and a nursery rhyme quiz.
KJ says, "Once that's through we'll give out prizes and decorate onesies. And then they all get wonderful bags to take home that were donated by the Family Worship Center."
In addition to USO-Metro volunteers, there were a number of volunteers from the non-denominational church in Springfield, Virginia. Among them was Kristy Webb, who said, "We definitely wanted to start reaching out to the local military community. Actually our Pastor was born on Fort Belvoir at the hospital so even more so he has a heart for the military."
USO-Metro is only able to exist thanks to the extraordinary dedication of thousands of volunteers who serve at local USO centers and airport lounges throughout the Washington-Baltimore region.
Military Spouse Marilyn Harris, mother of two boys and pregnant with her first girl said, "I wanted to educate myself on what's available, and see what other moms are doing to network, and to find out what's available as well. I was in Korea for the past three years and I'm familiar with what they had there, so this is my first time back to the states pregnant to investigate and network with other moms."
Heather Larson of the New Parent Support Program through Army Community Service was at the event and explained, "We provide in home support to families with children before birth and up to age 3. So it's just a form of education. We do that in the form of home visits and then we have classes that we teach on base so we're just a really good resource for pregnant, expecting, and families with children."
Also there was Sonja Foots, a nurse who does infant massage and works with the New Parent Support Program as well at Fort Belvoir. "This is another opportunity for us to do outreach and make sure our community is informed about the services that are available to them."
Jennifer Warnock is a military spouse who teaches yoga the second Monday of every month at Fort Belvoir's USO Warrior and Family Center and said, "They're just going through an awesome time in their lives. I mean their bodies are changing, but it's a great time to love themselves."
The USO Warrior and Family Center at Fort Belvoir is one of the 10 USO Center located throughout the Washington-Baltimore region and is the largest center in the world.
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