Wonda Barker has been married 14 years but knows well the struggles of single parenthood.

Her husband is with Army Special Operations and spent the first four years of the family’s station at Fort Carson deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.

With three children under the age of 10, there were few places Barker felt comfortable venturing to alone. Then she found the Southeast YMCA.

“The time went by faster,” Barker said. “You can take your kids there and not have to worry about people approaching you.”

The Southeast YMCA is one of 15 area charities receiving grants from The Gazette-El Pomar Empty Stocking Fund.

What started as a much-appreciated free membership with free childcare through Fort Carson has grown into a complete support system and family outlet.

Barker takes advantage of the personal training. Taking two hours to herself each day is a welcome reprieve, even now while her husband is stateside but gone a week or two at a time for training.

“My ‘battle buddy’ is a neighbor who would not do anything when her husband was gone,” Barker said. So the two held each other responsible to get to the Y.

“We got so used to doing it that we started to go without the other,” she said.

Each summer, her oldest children attend the Y’s Operation Purple, a free, week-long camp associated with Camp Shady Brook for children of military parents.

“They can’t wait until the next year,” Barker said.

Most recently, Barker took her sons to the Y’s Mother-Son Round Up and regularly attends the organization’s military appreciation events. As a tenured military wife, Barker uses her role as a Family Readiness Leader at Fort Carson to sing the Y’s praises to young military spouses who find themselves in a new place and alone, often for the first time.

“They’re going to do whatever they can do to help you. It is a really safe environment,” Barker said.

EMPTY STOCKING FUND

Make a secure donation at www.fillanemptystocking.org.Call 476-1673 to make a credit card or stock donation.Make check payable to the Empty Stocking Fund and mail to P.O. Box 400, Colorado Springs, CO 80901.