Homefront Forces Appoints Young Patron

HomeFront Forces Appoint Patron aged 7

Today, HomeFront Forces, a website to support the estimated 175,000 children of our Armed Forces, appointed a new patron; Miss Madison Fetigan age 7.

HomeFront Forces announced today the appointment of Miss Madison Fetigan aged 7. Anna Matthews, Director of HomeFront Forces said this was "in recognition of her positive outlook. We are delighted that Madison has agreed to become a Patron for us, because the website is all about supporting children like her during separation from a parent due to deployment"

When the founders of HomeFront Forces made contact with Louise Fetigan, Madison’s Mum, through Twitter, they loved the way that Louise and Madison decided to channel their energy during a difficult period into positive action. They got in touch with us to see how the site could help and began to plan a 'My daddy is a soldier Trek 2011' in March to raise money for Help4Heroes. Madison and her family truly represent the children and families that our website has been established to support. Madison’s daddy is going to be away for Christmas this year after leaving for a tour of Afghanistan on the 18th October and is due to return end April/May 2011.

Madison Casey Louise Fetigan (7) born in Germany 25th June 2003 has expressed how she feels about her Dad being away:"I feel sad, worried, scared and frightened because my Dad is in Afghanistan. My Mum has helped me a lot since he has been away but my Dad is always in my heart. My Daddy is a hero."

Louise Fetigan, 28, an-ex soldier herself, saw service in Kosovo and is the partner of Lance Corporal of Horse Tony Fetigan (29) who serves with the Household Cavalry. She said, "We have come through various challenges so far on this tour of duty. We wanted to focus on something positive. Madison is doing a 'My daddy is a soldier Trek 2011’ on the weekend of 13th March 2011 in aid of Help4Heroes along with 3 other girls she knows and they too have daddy's who have served in Afghanistan"

Currently, forces families depend on infrequent, erratic and brief telephone calls as the main way they communicate. Children often miss out on speaking to their parents and can't share with them the day to day ups and downs of family and school life.　 http://www.homefrontforces.org/ provides a child friendly, secure web portal, where families can create their own private web pages and can post pictures, video messages and all the little domestic details that help keep families in touch.　The family's page acts like a virtual 'fridge door' for messages that can literally be posted while tea is cooking.

The site also allows families to seek support and advice from each other. HomeFront Forces have major development plans for the site and are seeking financial support to achieve this. The HomeFront Star Supporters campaign http://www.homefrontforces.org/support/ is the best way for businesses and individuals to give their support.

Louise Fetigan said "Madison and I are delighted to be involved in the Homefront forces website and are keen to raise awareness of what will be a fantastic support system for service families when the site is fully commissioned. When Madison was feeling very sad about her Dad being away I searched for user friendly tools to help her. I found very little that was useful until I came across Homefront forces. The site they are developing is brilliant. It will be great to be able to post messages from the family, show pictures of Madison at Christmas or playing with her friends."

Monique Bateman, Director Royal Navy & Royal Marines Children’s Fund said "It's a brilliant idea. Anything that helps service children get through the difficult time of separation is fantastic. This site will provide a great coping mechanism for them and their families."

Louise and Madison Fetigan are available for interview and photos.

For further information please contactAnna Matthews, Homefrontforces.org
on 023 80238289
or Anna@homefrontforces.org