The Freeborn County chapter of the American Red Cross is hoping to make a difference in the lives of local families who are preparing to send a loved one overseas.

Coping With Deployments is a class developed by the American Red Cross to specifically address the stresses and strains that deployments place on the families of service members.

The Freeborn County chapter of the Red Cross will host the class on March 12.

Local Red Cross Director Jeanie Opdahl said the 4 1/2 hour course came highly recommended and is taught by a certified instructor. She said the class will include information to help adults and children coping with a deployment in their immediate family. A large portion of the class will be devoted to children’s reactions to deployments and situations that come up at school, day care and at home.

In fact, the local chapter of the Family Readiness Group feels so strongly about this course that they have moved their monthly meeting to be at this event rather than their regularly-scheduled second Sunday of the month.

“I really recommend our families going to this class,” said coordinator Tammy Estes, whose husband is getting ready to deploy for his fifth time. “As a family, first time or multiple time, it is always a peace of mind learning about issues surrounding deployment. Many of our first time families are wanting as much information they can about deployments, as a lot of them are going into this totally blind.”

Estes also said that it’s also a good way for people in the community to meet and get to know others who are going through the same thing they are, but perhaps in a different branch of the military.

Opdahl said the class is also a way for local family members to learn about other resources available to them, once their family member has been deployed.

Opdahl said there is room for 30 adults to register for the class, and registration is on a first-come, first-serve basis. The class is available to the family members of the Reserve, National Guard and active duty service members, including spouses, older children, parents, siblings and significant others. Veterans and their members are also eligible to attend.

About 100 soldiers from the Albert Lea unit of the Minnesota Army National Guard were notified in January they will be deployed for one year in support of Operation New Dawn, which is the name of the U.S. drawdown phase of the Iraq War.

Delta Company soldiers called to serve Operation New Dawn will leave May 22. They will first go to pre-deployment training at Fort McCoy, Wis., before shipping out overseas to Kuwait, which Army officials expect to happen by late summer.

If you go

What: Coping With Deployment class

When: 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Mar. 12; lunch will be provided at no charge

Where: American Red Cross, 1608 W. Fountain St., Albert Lea

Who: adult family members of those in the military who are preparing for deployment in support of Operation New Dawn

Registration: first-come, first-serve; call 507-373-4544, no later than March 7

Cost: free