APRIL 29, 2022 – The Presidio of Monterey’s Touch-A-Truck event in honor of the Month of the Military Child featured a variety of trucks and other vehicles for children to see, touch and explore.
PoM Child and Youth Services organized the event, which took place April 23 at the General Stilwell Community Center at Ord Military Community. Each April, members of the military community and beyond celebrate the Month of the Military Child to recognize the resiliency, selflessness and sacrifice of military children as they serve our country as part of a military family.
Families with young children thronged the event, which featured a PoM fire truck, a PoM police cruiser, a cement truck, a dump truck, a U.S. Postal Service delivery truck and several more. LaToya Maben, Child and Youth Services outreach director and an organizer of the event, said this was the installation’s first Touch-A-Truck event, but organizers hope to make it an annual tradition.
The event’s kickoff included Nick Morgan, 14, the Porter Youth Center’s Youth of the Year, who spoke about how the youth center has inspired him and other military children.
“This program represents the best of the military children,” Nick said. “It brings out the best in us, as I’ve seen all the leadership all my fellow military youths have provided, how they have inspired the young children, how they continue to go forth and be strong.”
Nick said the military children who attend the center might not always have a lot of time together due to frequent military moves, but the center helps them form strong relationships and good memories.
In addition, Chaplain (Maj.) Ben Ellington, U.S. Army Garrison PoM chaplain, delivered the event’s invocation, praying for military children and spouses, who often pay the heaviest price when service members go to war.
“It’s the military spouse and the military child that is often the unsung and the forgotten heroes of our service to our country,” Ellington said.
Those who attended said they had a lot of fun.
Steve McIntyre, his wife Kim Hall and their daughter Harper, 3, were among the attendees, and McIntyre said he and his wife knew they had to take Harper when they saw the flier because she loves trucks of all kinds.
“It’s great,” McIntyre said of the event. “We love it―just the fact that we can get up and see the trucks and she can touch the trucks and she can sit in the fire truck.”
Story by Winifred Brown
U.S. Army Garrison Presidio of Monterey