Tyeshaun King, of Coventry, 7, receives a medal, certificate and backpack. Ryan’s mother is Specialist Jessica King. At right is Tyeshaun’s stepfather, Ronnie Gomes.

The Providence Journal / Connie Grosch

WARWICK –– Having a father who served in Iraq and who is set to deploy to Afghanistan soon, Brittany Sederbach, 18, of Chepachet, says she knows what many young children whose National Guard parents sent to serve in Guantanamo are going through now.

“It’s a big change. You go from having your father being around all the time to not having him at all,” said the University of Rhode Island student, as she sought to explain the importance of events such as the one Tuesday night when Hero Packs were distributed to the children of some of those who have been deployed.

Carrying on a tradition that began four years ago and has grown steadily since, the Rhode Island National Guard invited the children of the 205 members of the 118th Military Police Battalion and the 115th Military Police Company, both out of Warwick, to an evening that focused on ways to stay connected with their deployed parents.

The Hero Packs, which were assembled by volunteers from the 4-H Clubs, Boys & Girls Clubs, URI and young people from the Guard’s own Child and Youth program, varied according to the child’s interests and age, but each was designed to help them not only cope with the stresses of not having the parent at home but ways to keep in touch.

Older youngsters received disposable cameras to take pictures of themselves and the world around them to send to their deployed mom or dad. In some of the kits, there were two stuffed-toy “buddy” puppies, one to send off to the parent overseas and one to be kept by the children, so that stories and photos about where puppy had been could be shared as they wait for the deployment to end.

More important, there were journals that children could use to provide a running account of the things going on in their lives to be read by the parent on his or her return home.

Sederbach, who is a member of the 4-H, said she enlisted the help of a couple members of the URI football team in assembling the Hero Packs.

In all, 150 packs, filled with assorted stress relievers from Scrabble games to Sesame Street DVDs, were made, and 60 children were on hand to receive the gifts and certificates honoring their sacrifice.

“It’s because kids serve, too,” explained Laura Patron, the state youth coordinator for the Rhode Island Guard. “It is important to recognize the sacrifices that the children make while their parent, and in some cases, both parents, are deployed.”

Playing a key role were Haleigh Freeburg, 14, and Courtney Graham, 13, both of North Kingstown High School and members of Girl Scout Troop 464, North Kingstown. Both took the digital pictures which were then uploaded onto laptop computers by teams from 4-H and URI to produce photos that the children could send to their deployed parents in frames that the children created earlier in the night.

Courtney said she knew it was for a good cause. “When my parents were away on vacation for a week, I missed them a lot. I know having a parent away on a deployment would be 10 times worse.”

Ryan DiGiulio, 11, and his sister, Hannah, 7, said this current deployment is the second time that their father, Capt. William E. DiGiulio, has been away on duty. Ryan said he was only 6 the first time, but he can still remember when his father was deployed to Iraq for seven or eight months.

“I’m a little older now, so I can understand it more,” he said, and he looks forward to the times when he and his family speak to his father by phone.

rdujardi@projo.com