Operation Hug-A-Hero helps children who miss their military parents

There are more than 200,000 U.S. soldiers currently in Iraq and Afghanistan and many of those men and women of the Armed Forces leave behind children who anxiously await their return.

Organizations like Operation Hug-A-Hero are trying to help children cope with having a parent overseas or a parent who may never have the chance to come home again. Operation Hug-A-Hero provides dolls with the child’s parent’s photo screened onto the doll’s face at no cost to military children who have lost a parent in the line of duty or who cannot afford one.

Former St. Louisan Lisa Berg - along with her friend Tricia Dyal - started Operation Hug-A-Hero after spending 16 years in the U.S. Air Force and Air Force Reserves. Berg, a mother of three, said she understands the stresses of having a parent away from home; her husband, Benjamin, currently serves in the U.S. Coast Guard.

“We’re definitely a proud military family,” Berg said. “We know what it’s like to have daddy or mommy away. The whole idea of the dolls came about from Tricia’s husband, who’s a Marine and is being deployed all the time.”

Dyal was the one who came up with the idea of the first doll in 2005; it was a success, with doctors telling her that every child in the military needed a “daddy doll.” Operation Hug-A-Hero came about after realizing that many military families with young-ranking enlisted soldiers are struggling financially.

“There are so many military families that just can’t afford $30 (to get the dolls for their children),” Berg said. “It’s sad to say, but they need that money for food or getting their car fixed. We give them out for free because we know that there’s families out there that can’t afford it.”

Operation Hug-A-Hero has donated approximately 3,000 dolls to children who have a parent in the military. Those in the military who are in the lower ranks are moved to the top of the list because the soldier’s salary is much less compared to an officer or enlisted member with a significant amount of time in the service.

“The young-ranking soldiers are just coming out of high school, they get married and have a child when they’re around 20 and they just don’t have any money,” Berg said. “A lot of them are afraid to tell their stories because they’re so proud to be in the military.”

Berg’s main objective currently is to sign on corporate sponsors, which will give Operation Hug-A-Hero the flexibility to donate dolls to any military child who would request one.

“Right now, I’m just working on getting a couple big sponsorships because then we won’t have to worry about being limited when someone asks for a doll,” Berg said. “We would never turn down a family, but we try to reach out to the lower ranking ones first. We also look at how long mommy or daddy is going to be gone. So we’re going to put a family up high on the list if their daddy is going to be gone for the next nine months compared to someone whose daddy is going to be home in a month.”

Berg said she hopes that the first group of companies to join the ranks of Operation Hug-A-Hero is those that build the weapons and equipment that the troops are using at home and overseas.

“We would love to get these companies that make the equipment for the military involved with Operation Hug-A-Hero, whether it is those who make the ammunition, the tanks or the aircraft, and get them to sponsor these families,” Berg said. “It’s not going to take that much money for them to get involved if they’re looking for a non-profit to donate to; then we hope that they consider Operation Hug-A-Hero.”