DAYTON, Ohio — To better serve veterans and military families, Blue Star Families is launching a new survey to gather data from military families across the country.
“I love homeschooling all of my kids,” she said. “I love having them home.”
Every day, she’s helping her kids with elementary, middle and high school assignments.
“Yeah, jumping around between these different grades can be challenging, but I also enjoy learning with them, too,” Maria said.
Maria’s husband Brian Frutiger is stationed at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, and like many military families, they’ve always been on the move.
“We are originally from Wisconsin, my husband and I,” Maria said. We have been overseas for almost 10 years, so definitely it’s challenging. You know, as the kids get older, they don’t wanna leave their friends. They don’t want to leave their community.”
The Frutigers have been in Ohio for four years since their last stop in Hawaii. Maria said the kids are acclimated to the Miami Valley, but the pandemic affected their social lives.
“I feel like I haven’t really made a good connection with my husband’s unit or with some of the people still on the base,” she said. “And I’m hopeful that now we’re taking those steps forward and we’re able to start making those connections again and checking in on each other, because I think mental health is a huge issue.”
Blue Star Families is a military support organization founded by military spouses in 2009. They’re hoping to continue their mission by collecting data to improve the ways they serve.
“That’s why we do this every year, because things change,” Blue Star Families of Dayton and Southwestern Ohio Chapter Director Dr. Geri Maples said. “We are able to take that information that is provided by our families and put it into action.”
Maples said there is a wide range of topics included in the survey including mental health and social interaction, child care and caregiving to list a few. She’s hopeful the data from the survey can help make a big difference.
“This survey gets attention all the way up to the Department of Defense,” Maples said. “And it really is just important because there’s no other person out there to tell us what their life looks like than the individual themselves.”
The survey can take up to 45 minutes, but Frutiger said it’s time well spent, especially for new military spouses.
“Good information, resources and things just like that to help them navigate the military life.”
Blue Star Families will be holding a virtual town hall meeting Thursday at 2 p.m. to present 2021’s survey data. The Town hall will be archived on the Blue Star Families of Dayton & Southwestern Ohio’s Facebook Page.
Those interested in participating in the survey can do so here. The survey is open until July 10.
