Father Chris Heath is not only a Catholic Priest with the Diocese of Orange, (Orange County, CA,) he is also a member of Military Children’s Charity’s founding Board of Directors.  In an effort at full transparency, I serve as the Volunteer Chief Executive Officer for this organization and I personally recruited his involvement. 

I met with Fr. Heath this week to gain exclusive insight into his motivation for becoming involved with the national call to support American Servicemember’s and their families.  

Here is what Fr. Heath had to share:

1.  Prior to joining the Board of Directors for M.C.C., what had your involvement with the military previously been?

“My Dad served in the Navy as a young man between the Korean and Vietnam wars, but didn’t talk about it much.  I did not grow up in a military environment, and as a priest only rarely have I had any interaction with military families or even chaplains.  I had heard that many military families struggled financially, and I had always thought that was terribly ironic that people who serve their country would experience poverty.”

2.  How has the experience of getting involved with this demographic of children, the past few months, changed or expanded your original perception on what the military lifestyle involves?

"I became involved with MCC through the invitation of Cherie Navarro and her son Isaiah.  Their personal experience of privation, and trying to help others in need led them to starting this charity.  I wasn’t sure I was qualified to be on the Board of MCC, not having had any military experience.  But I realized I had many contacts in the community, and that I might be able to help connect people who could help with MCC."

3.  What has been the most challenging part of being involved with a grass root start up endeavor?

"Being part of a new charity has been eye-opening.  The amount of paperwork and fees involved with starting a state- and federally-recognized charitable institution was overwhelming, and I had very little to do with that aspect of the start-up process!  I wonder if the government makes it difficult on purpose, to weed out people who don’t want to do this kind of work badly enough! 

As a start-up, another challenge is to be realistic and just start with a couple of projects and build momentum.  There’s so much good that can be done, so much potential for MCC to grow and succeed and serve the needs of more and more military children and their families!  It’s so important to keep our focus on children, on their needs in wartime, that we have to be careful not to overreach while at the same time become better known in the community and in military circles." 

4.  Share your elevator speech, if you had 30 seconds to tell your neighbor why they should make this cause their own, what would you say.

"I’ve had many opportunities to share MCC with people I know.  Invariably when I do they are more than ready to respond.  What I tell them is that as Americans we honor our military personnel for the daily sacrifice of protecting and serving our country, and we especially honor those who have died in this duty.  We all see news items of soldiers returning from deployment to happy spouses, smiling children, and proud parents.  And we see flag-draped caskets and grieving families as well.  Every member of the armed services has a family of origin, and many have their own families.  As soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines are impacted by their duties, so are their families.  These families are also our heroes: they also sacrifice while their children/spouses/parents are away at war.  They also sacrifice when some of them don’t come home. 

The children sacrifice by living in base housing, living with the uncertainty of deployment schedules, or if their Dad or Mom will return.  The children sacrifice often with the indignity of a military salary that may be fit for a single person, but not when he or she has mouths to feed.  We thank and honor our military, but the children need to know they are our heroes too: without ever having been asked, they go through periods of time without parents, and sometimes without the normal things of childhood that most kids take for granted.  This is where MCC comes in: new clothes and supplies for school, toys for the holidays, other mementos and gifts at other times of the year, maybe even a trip to an amusement park – are these not small but effective ways to tell these young heroes we recognize what they’re going through, and we honor them for it?"

5.  Do you feel that moving forward beyond your board service you will continue to advocate for this demographic of children, and it what ways?

"Although my membership on the Board is only for one year, I know I will keep tabs on MCC and continue to be a conduit of resources as much as I can: MCC is touching a specific and until now unmet need: the children of military families."

For more information on Military Children's Charity, please visit the website at: www.militarychildrenscharity.org.