RAFs Mildenhall, Lakenheath learn from the ‘Kings’

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Jerilyn Quintanilla
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
RAF MILDENHALL, England --  Staff members from the youth centers on RAF's Mildenhall, Lakenheath and Croughton learned some new tricks from the kings- the King's Foundation that is.
 
Thirty youth center staff members joined members from the foundation for a three-day training camp on RAF Mildenhall from the 22nd to the 24th of September, to learn and brainstorm new and exciting ways to interact with children.

Founded in 1991, the King's Foundation is a charity group and leading sport and activity camp provider in the United Kingdom.

The U.S. Air Forces in Europe Child and Youth Programs first worked with the foundation in 2007 during a week-long sports and fitness camp for military children at RAF Menwith Hill. In the summer of 2009, the camp was made available to children on RAF Lakenheath and as of last year, the partnership with King's is now available on four USAFE bases.

"I see the training as an opportunity for our young staff to learn how to effectively engage the kids and to inspire new ideas for our more experienced staff members," said Ruth Radloff, a youth specialist at USAFE headquarters.

This is the first year that the foundation is working with youth center staff members from all three bases and it has already garnered positive feedback.

"I'm having fun," said Courtney Rector, a RAF Mildenhall youth center staff member. "The King's Foundation staff is showing us new and unique ways to interact with the kids. It's also nice to meet other youth care providers from the neighboring bases. We've been bouncing ideas off of each other, we have different perspectives on some things and I'm learning new ways of approaching the same situations."

Perhaps the biggest beneficiaries of the training camp will be the children, as the youth care providers implement the skills they have learned.