Booth at Great American BBQ honors military kids

Among the vendors, bounce castles, water slides and bands at this year’s Great American Barbecue will be a small booth doing its bit to honor the meaning of Independence Day.

To raise money for Our Military kids, Austin Hoopes, 29, his wife, current InMaricopa.com Mother of the Year Julianne, 27, and their three daughters Adelynne, 5, Clara Anne, 2, and 15-month-old Tilly will paint faces and raffle off donations from C2 Tactical, Papa John’s and others.

In January 2012, Austin, a first lieutenant, deployed to Afghanistan as an Apache helicopter pilot with the Utah National Guard for 12 months. Our Military Kids reached out to his family and gave a $500 grant to help pay for Adelynne’s athletic fees.

Our Military Kids provides grants and financial aid to children of reservists and soldiers of the National Guard. Children ages 3 and up are eligible to receive money to participate in sports, fine arts or tutoring programs.

“We feel like people will donate a dollar or two for something fun,” Julianne Hoopes said. “Last Fourth of July it was special to us because he (Austin) was away serving. This Fourth, we thought it would be fun to give back to the charity.”

Austin Hoopes said he “chose to enlist when I was 17. My wife knew what she was doing when she married me. The kids … they never had a choice. They didn’t get to choose to have a parent go away for a year. They’re really the ones to suffer the most out of all this.”

The Great American Barbecue will be at Pacana Park at 6 p.m. Thursday. There will be live music and food, with an American Zone featuring a pie-eating contest, sack and three-legged races, volleyball, and more. http://goo.gl/maps/c3fi7

Recently crowned Miss Arizona will be on hand to sing the national anthem.

Click here for more information on Our Military Kids. 

Click here for more information on the city of Maricopa’s Great American Barbecue and shuttle service to the event.