COMMUNITY
Meet DABBY and WILLS over from the States
by Melanie Kendrick, the inspiration behind bringing Dabby to the UK
The time that a parent goes away on deployment is a difficult one for young children. For many it’s hard to understand why daddy or mummy has to go away and they often worry. Having a ‘friend’ around, even just coming to stay for a month can take a child’s mind off what is happening – Dabby and Wills are those ‘friends’.
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he Dabby Project was set up in the United States by Robin Curling Owens at the beginning of this year.
A military child herself, she knew how difficult deployments can be and wanted to make things a little easier for the military children of America. That’s when Robin came up with the idea of Dabby – a stuffed doll that goes to visit military families whilst a loved one is on detachment.
Dabby made her first visit in February and has since been travelling around America. She was then joined by her ‘brother’ Bubby and their ‘dog’ Patriot.
The Dabby Project went international in Apr 13. I saw the page on Facebook and thought what a great idea it was and how children in the UK would love to take part. And so it was decided that Dabby would take a trip to the UK to meet her cousin Wills and between them they would travel
Envoy Autumn 2013
around the country spending time with service families over here.
In the UK, children host Dabby or her cousin Wills for a month, having adventures, taking photographs and filling in the diary.
When you become a host family either Dabby or Wills will come to visit (through
the post!). With them comes a personalised letter, a diary to fill in and a memory stick to store the photographs you take. At the end of the month all the items are returned with Dabby or Wills so they ready to visit others.
Adventures are shared on our Facebook page allowing host families to continue to follow Dabby’s and Wills’ adventures around the country.
Dabby made her first host family visit in June staying with a family in Wittering. They have also been to Coningbsy and Cranwell this summer. Future visits include Boulmer, Leeming and back to Coningsby in the new year. The Dabby Project UK has also started supporting families serving in Germany .
If you are interesting finding out more about becoming a host family visit the Facebook page – The Dabby Project UK or send an email to
melanie.kendrick1@
btinternet.com headed: Dabby and Wills.
www.raf-ff.org.uk
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