Do you know of a family where a parent has been deployed overseas on military service? They may be able to get grants to help keep the school-age children occupied with after-school activities in their own communities.

OurMilitaryKids.org is a program aimed at children in Reserve and National Guard families who are in grades K-12 and have a parent who is deployed. Children from all 50 states have benefited from the resources.

The list of eligible activities includes youth sports, dance lessons, theater camp, leadership training programs, some tutoring programs and driver’s education.

Family income is NOT a criteria for receiving a grant. Each child who meets the program requirements is eligible for up to $500 toward the specific activity as long as funds are available. Much of the funding comes from corporate sponsors and charity foundations.

Applications and instructions are available on-line. The required paperwork includes a copy of the parent’s deployment orders and the child’s military ID card (or application for one).

“Although the government makes significant resources available to children of active duty military personnel at military installations, over 60% of reserve families live more than 25 miles from the nearest post making these resources inaccessible to these children,” organization co-founder Linda Davidson said on the agency’s web site. “Our Military Kids was created to make certain that all children of military families get the support they urgently need while coping with the absence of a parent who is away serving our country.”