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Volume 28, July 2015

People to Know,

Places to Go!

SOLDIER & FAMILY TOOLKIT 1/34 ARMORED BRIGADE COMBAT TEAM

Youth Camps

Page 6

Blue Star

Museum Page 9

Financial

Military &

Family Life

Counselors

Page 11

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The intent of this toolkit is to provide you with available events, deals, resources, and important information. Please take a few minutes to glance at these resources and visit a few sites!

IN THIS ISSUE 3 BEYOND THE YELLOW

RIBBON EVENTS & DEALS

5 MINNESOTA ZOO

6 YOUTH CAMPS

7 HEALTHY MONEY HABITS

9 BLUE STAR MUSUEM

11 PERSONAL FINANCIAL MILITARY & LIFE

CONSULTANTS

13 RESOURCE LINKS

14 FAMILY ASSISTANCE CENTERS

The intent of this toolkit is to provide you with available events, deals, resources, and important information. Please take a few minutes to glance

at these resources and visit a few sites!

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Check out the Beyond the Yellow

Ribbon website and sign up for

exclusive email updates on

monthly local Beyond the Yellow

Ribbon events and deals.

www.BeyondTheYellowRibbon.org

HOME FRONT EVENTS & DEALS

Military Family Week at the Minnesota Zoo When: July 1-7, 2015 Where: The Minnesota Zoo, Apple Valley About: The Minnesota Zoo salutes our troops with special discounts this week, including free admission for military per-sonnel, free parking, and half-priced admission for family members. More Info: Flyer Freedom Festival When: July 3, 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. Where: Fountain Lake Gazebo, Albert Lea About: Albert Lea Beyond the Yellow Ribbon is hosting a Freedom Festival to show appreciation to veterans of all branches of service. This free event will include food, a cash bar, and entertainment by John Steiert. More Info: Flyer 2nd Annual City of Randall Car Show When: July 4, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Where: Randall VFW About: Enjoy the 4th of July at the 2nd Annual City of Randall Car Show. This event will include bed races, duck races, and concessions in the VFW. More Info: Flyer St. Paul Saints vs Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks When: July 4, 2015 Gates open 5:30 p.m. Where: CHS Field, St. Paul About: Spend the 4th of July watching the St. Paul Saints vs Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks followed by a post-game fire-works super show. Receive up to six (6) complimentary tick-ets with a valid military I.D. More Info: Flyer

Free Drop-In Legal Clinic for Veterans When: July 7, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Where: Redwood Area Community Center About: Minnesota Assistance Council for Veterans (MACV) invites you to participate in a free drop-in legal clinic for veterans. More Info: Flyer Free Drop-In Legal Clinic for Veterans When: July 8, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Where: Fargo VA HCS About: Minnesota Assistance Council for Veterans (MACV) invites you to participate in a free drop-in legal clinic for veterans. More Info: Flyer Medicine Wheel Model - Training and Healing When: July 8-9, 2015 Where: Eagle's Healing Nest, Sauk Centre About: Phillip Whiteman and Lynette Two Bulls will be at the Eagle's Nest for two days of training and healing. To reserve a spot for this amazing way to heal with horse and connect with self, call 320-351-6200. The cost for this training and healing is $100. More Info: Website Martin County BTYR 1st Annual Charity Golf Tourna-ment When: July 11-12, 2015 Where: Fox Lake, Interlaken, and Rose Lake Golf Clubs About: Register for the Martin County Beyond the Yellow Ribbon 1st Annual Charity Golf Tournament 2-person scramble and help local Servicemembers and their fami-lies. This 2 day tournament will be held on three courses for a total of 45 holes of golf. More Info: Flyer

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Check out the Beyond the Yellow

Ribbon website and sign up for

exclusive email updates on

monthly local Beyond the Yellow

Ribbon events and deals.

www.BeyondTheYellowRibbon.org

HOME FRONT EVENTS & DEALS

Free Drop-In Legal Clinic for Veterans When: July 14, 2 a.m. to 2 p.m. Where: VA Medical Center, Minneapolis About: The Minnesota Assistance Council for Veterans (MACV), in partnership with the law firm of Fredrikson & By-ron, P.A., inivites you to participate in a free drop-in legal clinic for veterans. More Info: Flyer Hastings Rivertown Days When: July 17 - 19, 2015 Where: Various locations within the Hastings community About: Stop by Fishing for Life and the Hastings Beyond the Yellow Ribbon booth during Hastings Rivertown Days. More Info: Website Minnesota Voices from the Vietnam War When: July 18, 11 a.m. Where: Minnesota Military Museum, Camp Ripley About: Minnesota Voices from the Vietnam War uses previ-ously unrecorded stories and experiences to tell stories about the lives and service of Minnesota men and women in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. More Info: Flyer 7th Annual Ride for Hope When: July 18, 2015 Where: Owatonna Eagles Club About: Ride in support of four local charities at the 7th Annu-al Ride for Hope; Enjoy planned stops, food, and lots of great drawings and prizes. More Info: Flyer

8th Annual Military Extravaganza at Angelique's Bridal When: July 19, 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. Submit a brief essay on the website NLT July 17th to be considered for selection. Where: 12341 Aberdeen St. NE, Blaine, MN 55449 About: Are you or your fiancee in the military and plan-ning a wedding? Angelique's Bridal is giving away FREE bridal gowns to the first 100 military couples to submit their Love Story. More Info: Flyer Website Challenge for Children's When: July 19, 2015 Where: MN Pro Paintball Field, Lakeville About: Join the 7th Annual Challenge for Children's event. The biggest charity paintball event in the midwest bene-fitting the children's hospitals and clinics of Minnesota. More Info: Website Flyer 5 Seconds of Summer Concert When: July 31, 7:30 p.m. Where: Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul About: The Xcel Energy Center is offering a special mili-tary discount for an event suite at the 5 Seconds of Sum-mer concert. All reservations must be made online and guests must print their tickets prior to arriving. Use pro-mo code: military More Info: Website

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MILITARY YOUTH CAMPS

This is only a portion of the wonderful opportunities that are offered to our

youth! Be sure to check out

www.beyondtheyellowribbon.org/youth-camps

Contact Laura 651-268-8695 or Moriah 651-268-8378

For any questions about

Tween Overnights

Military youth ages 9-13 can spend the night at the Minnesota Zoo and other fantastic locations to network with other military teens and learn how animals are resilient.

September 5-6, Mall of America Sea Life Aquarium

Defending the Blue Line Youth Hock-ey Camps

Nearly a dozen camps, located throughout the nation, are available for free or at a discount for military youth. The camps are one of many ways Defending the Blue Line ensures that chil-dren of Servicemembers are afforded every op-portunity to participate in the game of hockey.

Check the website for dates: http://www.defendingtheblueline.org/programs/camps/

MN Elks Youth Camp

Campers will go fishing, play mini golf, go bik-ing, kayaking, swimming, participate in archery, and other great activities at camp. July 12-18, Nisswa, MN.

Teen Panel

The goal of Teen Panel is to build resiliency through empowering teen participants in developing leader-ship skills, learning teamwork strategies and giving back to the communities. July 30th-August 1st.

National Guard Youth Camp

Ages 10-15 gather on Camp Ripley, Minnesota Na-tional Guard Youth Camp. The youth spend seven days experiencing Camp Ripley and its surrounding. Camp is not a "boot camp". Activities include, bik-ing, archery, orienteering and night vision goggles. Cost is $100-150. Week 1: 26 July - 1 August Week 2: 2-8 August.

Operation Purple Camp

Campers will participate in camp activities such as mili-tary day, bonfires, swimming, fishing, camper games, and

other fun activities

Dates: July 12 to 17, 2015.

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HEALTHY MONEY HABITS SAVING FOR COLLEGE

Bottom Line: The reason most people don’t have enough money set aside for college is not their rate of return on their investments; it is that they don’t save early and often enough. Below are the numbers I ran for my family’s situa-tion and should not be considered financial advice. Please consult a financial professional for advice regarding your specific situation. Every so often, I put together a progress report for a specific area of our financial life. Most recently, I took a look at our college savings progress. We have three kids ages four, and due in July. We plan to have our kids complete their first two years of college during their last two years of high school thanks to Minnesota’s Post Secondary Education Pro-gram. Once baby comes, my husband will be transferring his Chap-ter 33 education benefits to them. We think he will be able to give them each one year’s worth of school and that will cover year three. For year four, we plan to use savings for one semester. The other semester we will use scholarships and cash flow. Tuition, books, and fees at the main university in Minnesota is $7000 per semester. For our four-year old, we will need to have $7,000 in today’s money ready to go in seventeen years (13,635, assuming 4% inflation). For our two-year old, we will need to have it ready in nineteen years (14,747, as-suming 4% inflation), and for our summer baby, we’ll need to be ready in twenty one years ($15, 951, assuming 4% in-flation). My numbers use 4% inflation, but the current infla-tion rate for college is 7%. If this rate continues, the respec-tive costs would be $22,111, $25,315, and $28,983. To save for college, we use a Coverdell Educational Savings account. It has a limit of $2,000 in contributions per year, which is more than adequate in our situation. It allows the money to grow tax-free. For our first-born, we started putting money we received for her birthdays and things into the account and occasionally added money. She has $1,300 in the account and it should grow to $9,000 by the time we need it. That means we are

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SAVING FOR COLLEGE (CONTINUED)

For our two-year old, we have $334 in the ac-count and it will grow to about $3,000. If we wanted to make up the additional $12,000 we are going to need, we would have to put in $1,400 this year. Since baby three’s account can’t be opened until he is born, we will have to wait to deposit the $1,500 that will grow to the $16,000 he will need. If the inflation rate stays at 7% instead of the 4% we are hoping for, we would need to add $2,000, $2,600, and $2,700. Some additional considerations are that we plan to grow our family in the future by adopting. Since ESA accounts are transferrable, it would make sense for us to contribute more than we intend to use to pay for future additions to our family. We have the expectation that unless they get scholarships to cover private or out-of state tuition, they will go to an in-state school or equivalent. Some states such as North Dakota charge military dependants in-state tuition re-gardless of residency. We also have the expec-tation that our kids will be working while they are in college and be able to cash flow many of their expenses and build savings. Since we will have our mortgage paid off in the next few years, we will also have the cash flow to be able to assist with expenses for multiple students at the same time. Scholarships are another re-source that often go under-utilized by Families. Our first strategy is for our kids to get coaching in taking the ACT and SAT (Pythagorean triples anyone?). Many scholarships at schools de-pend on these test scores. Even moving up a few points could lead to thousands of dollars more. We also plan to turn scholarship hunting into a Family hobby. If they apply for ten schol-arships a week during their Junior and Senior years and get turned down for 99% of them, they would still receive ten. If the average was $1,000 a piece, that would equal $10,000. Amongst the financial community, there is great debate about where college saving should fit into a Family’s financial plan. For our family, it makes sense to finish up the four-year old’s col-lege fund just to say we have it crossed off of our list.

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Frequently Asked Questions What is Blue Star Museums? Blue Star Museums is a collaboration among the National Endowment for the Arts, Blue Star Families, the Department of Defense, and more than 2,000 museums across America to offer free admission to the nation’s active duty military personnel including National Guard and Reserve and their families from Memorial Day, May 25, through Labor Day, September 7, 2015. Which museums are participating? More than 2,000 (and counting)

museums in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and American Samoa are participating in Blue Star Museums. These include children's museums, fine art museums, history and science museums, and nature centers. Who is eligible for free museum admission through Blue Star Museums? The free admission program is available to any bearer of a Gene-va Convention common access card (CAC), a DD Form 1173 ID card (dependent ID), or a DD Form 1173-1 ID card, which includes active duty U.S. military - Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, as well as members of the National Guard and Reserve, U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, NOAA Commissioned Corps - and up to five family members. How many military personnel and/or family members are allowed in for free per visit? The military ID holder plus up to five family mem-bers. The military ID holder can either be active duty service member or other dependent family member with the appropriate ID card. The active duty member does not have to be present for family members to use the program. How do you define a family member? A family member of active duty military may include a spouse or child, aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc. What if my spouse is deployed? Can my family and I still participate? Yes, spouses of deployed military are eligible for Blue Star Muse-ums. Just bring your DD Form 1173 ID Card, or DD Form 1173-1 ID Card, for active duty military family members. What if my spouse is not deployed, but cannot come to the museum with the family. Can my family and I still participate? Yes, your family can still participate, as the active duty member does not have to be present to use the program. Just bring your DD Form 1173 ID Card, or DD Form 1173-1 ID Card, for active duty military family members. How many military personnel and/or family members are allowed in for free per visit? The military ID holder plus up to five family members. What if my child is under the age of 10 and doesn't yet have a military ID? Children under the age of 10 without military ID are welcome to attend with their parents who either hold a Geneva Convention Common Access Card (CAC), a DD Form 1173 ID Card, or a DD Form 1173-1 ID Card. Does the Blue Star Museums program include admission for veterans and retirees? For unmarried partners? For parents with a child cur-rently serving on active duty, or for those who have lost a child on active duty? Admission for these individuals is not included in the scope of this program, unless they are the bearer of a Geneva Convention Common Access Card (CAC), a DD Form 1173 ID Card, or a DD Form 1173-1 ID card. Blue Star Museums is an effort to improve the quality of life for active duty military families, especially focusing on the approxi-mately 1 million children who have had at least one parent deployed. Blue Star Museums was created to show support for military families who have faced multiple deployments and the challenges of reintegration. This program offers these families a chance to visit museums this summer when many will have limited resources and limited time to be together. Will I receive free entry to special, fee-based exhibits? Some special or limited-time museum exhibits may not be included in this free ad-mission program. For questions on particular exhibits or museums, please contact the museum directly. Is there a limit on the number of Blue Star Museums I can visit this summer? No, there is no limit on the number of participating museums that eligible parties can visit. If a museum already offers free admission, can it still participate in Blue Star Museums? Museums with free admission are also welcome to join the Blue Star Museums list on the NEA website. Blue Star Museums is a collaboration among the National Endowment for the Arts, Blue Star Families, the Department of Defense, and more than 2,000 museums across America. Blue Star Families is a national, nonprofit network of military families from all ranks and services, in-cluding guard and reserve, dedicated to supporting, connecting and empowering military families. The effort to recruit museums has involved partnerships with the American Alliance of Museums, the Association of Art Museum Directors, the Association of Children’s Museums, the American Association of State and Local History, and the Association of Science-Technology Centers.

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RESOURCE LINKS ARMY / NATIONAL GUARD minnesotanationalguard.com armyonesource.com militaryonesource.mil CHILDREN ADAPT: cehd.umn.edu/fsos/adapt operationwearehere.com mnchildcare.org ausa.org/family mdva.state.mn.us/child guardfamilyyouth.org militarykids.org DISCOUNTS beyondtheyellowribbon.org military.com/discounts/category EDUCATION education4military.com gibill.va.gov militaryonesource.mil militarychild.org EMPLOYMENT esgr.org mn.gov/deed FMLA: dol.gov/whd/fmla HEALTH / MENTAL HEALTH tricare.mil militarymentalhealth.org Counseling 24/7: militaryonesource.mil MARRIAGE AND RELATIONSHIPS Marriage Retreats: strongbonds.org militaryonesource.mil PARENTS OF SOLDIERS bluestarmoms.org operationwearehere.com/Parents.html PET CARE dogsondeployment.org netpets.org guardianangelsforsoldierspet.org SPOUSES & SIGNIFICANT OTHERS militarysos.com spousebuzz.com milspouse.com msccn.org nationalmilitaryspousenetwork.org STRESS MANAGEMENT militaryonesource.mil defense.gov/specials/stressawareness

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