Meg Roussos / The BulletinDanae Stutesman helps her daughter, Kyna Stutesman, 5, pick out her school supplies through Operation Homefront in Bend on Sunday. The nonprofit assists active duty military and veterans families.

With one month left until kids return to school in Central Oregon, children from military families picked up some of the supplies they will need at an event Sunday.

The return to school is not the only major event looming in many of these kids’ lives. Many parents who serve in the Bend-based Oregon Army National Guard 1-82 Cavalry Squadron expect to deploy to Afghanistan by the time their children start school in September.

Two hundred soldiers, approximately half the squadron, are scheduled to deploy later this month to western Afghanistan, where they will provide security and defend the Shindand Air Base. The American-led coalition is training the Afghan Air Force at the 9.26-square-mile former Soviet base. The squadron is currently training at Fort Bliss, Texas.

The “back to school brigade” at the Oregon National Guard armory in Bend was arranged by the nonprofit Operation Homefront.

Janice Collee, director of programs at the nonprofit’s Portland field office, was in Bend on Sunday to provide backpacks and school supplies to kids.

“It’s one less thing the military families have to worry about paying for,” Collee said of the school supplies.

Operation Homefront is a national nonprofit founded in 2002. According to a press release from the group, more than 2,500 volunteers across the country help military families and wounded veterans.

The nonprofit is in the midst of back-to-school events throughout the Pacific Northwest. Collee said she just returned from a series of events in Alaska, and there were events in Clackamas on Friday and in Salem on Saturday.

The next “back to school brigade” day is scheduled for Sept. 9 in Medford. Operation Homefront purchases most of the backpacks with financial donations, but Collee said this year U.S. Bank also donated some backpacks.

The school supplies were donated by customers at Dollar Tree stores across the country. Dollar Tree stores will continue to collect the donations through Aug. 14, according to the company’s website.

Cassie Blythe, 34, of Bend, stopped by to pick up supplies with her 15-year-old daughter, Brooke, and 2-year-old son, Brady.

Blythe, whose husband Spc. Jesse Blythe, 31, is a member of the Oregon National Guard, is a volunteer with a local Family Readiness Group organized through the Guard. Cassie Blythe said the Family Readiness Group provides a support system for families while soldiers serve overseas.

The groups organize events for the families to stay connected to each other, and also use a Facebook page and newsletter to stay in touch and share information about events such as “back to school brigade.”

“Our job really is to keep the family members up to date on things they otherwise might not know about, like these events,” Blythe said.

Wendy Rudy, 45, whose husband Sgt. Will Rudy is a member of the Oregon National Guard, said events such as the “back to school brigade” are an opportunity for the community to show support for families of active- duty soldiers and veterans. Wendy Rudy is also a Family Readiness Group volunteer.

“I think it builds a sense of community, and there’s a sense they’re not doing this alone,” she said, after picking up school supplies for her 11-year-old daughter.

Some soldiers take a pay cut when they transition from civilian jobs to active duty. “School supplies are very expensive,” she said, “especially when you have more than one kid.”

— Reporter: 541-617-7829, hborrud@bendbulletin.com