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NORFOLK, Va. – When it comes to military service, the month of April is designated as the Month of the Military Child, highlighting the important role military children play in military families.
Navy veteran, and founder of the Hero Kids Foundation, retired Chief Hospital Corpsman John A. Raniowski, sees military children as the heroes behind many military careers including his own.
“When I retired, I promised I would learn to be a parent, a father – more important a ‘Papa’,” said Raniowski who served as a Fleet Marine Force Corpsman on multiple combat, contingency and training missions during his Naval service while his family was back home – “serving”.
Raniowski says he did not see the impact, at the time, or the consequences of his devotion to military service and how it had impacted his children. It wasn’t until the end of a 25-year career, that he started to see the impact his service had on his two daughters.
“As I began my journey out of uniform, I began to spend more and more time with them and their animals,” said Raniowski. “As we did so, I noticed my daughters began to discuss what had been their perspective - viewpoint of my service…our service.”
Raniowski explained that he noticed himself feeling more comfortable with these conversations as he and his daughters were working at a barn with their horses, a passion his daughters had been doing for years.
After many touching and deeply personal revelations between him and his daughters while working with the horses, Raniowski began to see a valuable, therapeutic element emerge.
Upon speaking with some of his fellow veterans and former teammates about these experiences and theirs as well, Raniowski knew there were more military families who could benefit from these therapeutic relationships, so he formed the Hero Kids Foundation in October of 2013 with the aim of “giving light to those who serve at home.”
Currently, HKF is a dedicated, non-profit organization offering mentoring, equine therapy and multiple engaging programs to military and first responder families in the Hampton Roads Area aiming to “connect families at their core, restore family spirit and help them thrive in a new normalcy.”
This year, to honor the Month of the Military Child, the HKF partnered with Hunt Club Farm of Virginia Beach, as they have in the past, to offer free tickets to the farm for military families in the Hampton Roads area.
For more information about signing up for HFK programs, visit their website at hkfva.org.
| Date Taken: | 04.19.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 08.14.2023 14:59 |
| Story ID: | 451351 |
| Location: | NORFOLK, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 65 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Veteran-founded organization ‘Giving light to those who serve at home’, by PO1 Maddelin Hamm, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
