Then and Now

$25 for the dinner. Sponsorship opportunities are available. The event also supports the efforts of AVET, or American Veterans Empowerment Team, which assists veterans with VA claims, and offers reintegration retreats and similar services.

Among the speakers will be 18-year-old entrepreneur — and military child — Christian Lape.

“My dad was either working or deployed half of my childhood,” said Christian, the son of Air Force veteran Brandon Lape.

To Christian, the support he enjoyed from his dad and the rest of the family helped shape him into the young adult he is.

“The level of discipline I learned from him and my grandparents is through the roof,” he said.

The Space Coast is home to 74,000 veterans and military children are connected to thousands of them. These children have grown up moving from military base to military base, attending multiple schools, celebrating milestones with parental phone calls and worrying about the safety of their mothers or fathers, or both.

“The struggle is very real for these kids,” Cone said.

For more information and tickets, visit avet-project.org SL