Blue Star Welcome Week comes to Coronado on Saturday, Sept. 26, giving residents near one of the Navy's largest bases a structured way to welcome the military families who relocate here each summer.

The nonprofit Blue Star Families organizes the annual event, which runs through Sunday, Oct. 4, to help the roughly 600,000 military families who go through a Permanent Change of Station (PCS) move each year, according to a StatePoint wire report published by the Coronado Eagle & Journal. The organization estimates only 39% of military families feel a true sense of belonging where they live.

Few places feel that gap more than Coronado. Naval Base Coronado employs more than 36,000 military and civilian personnel across eight installations. Naval Air Station North Island, at the north end of the island, serves as home port for several Pacific Fleet aircraft carriers.

"You don't have to do something big to be a good neighbor," Kathy Roth-Douquet, CEO of Blue Star Families, said in the wire report. "Just show up, lend a hand, make a connection."

The program suggests five ways to participate: attend or host a Welcome Week event, deliver a welcome note or help restock a relocating family's pantry, help military children feel less like the new kid at school, encourage employers to organize volunteer days or donation drives, and spread the word. Residents can browse planned events or register their own at the Blue Star Welcome Week events page.

Last year's Welcome Week drew corporate support in the San Diego area. Target team members helped military families through a "Restock Your Pantry" event that provided kitchen essentials to newly arrived households, according to a Target community report.

Coronado's naval installations are in the middle of a busy rotation. The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, based at North Island, deployed to the Middle East for nearly nine months and was expected to return in late September or early October, according to the Coronado News. Family members raised concerns about mental health, supplies and exhaustion at an Aug. 6 town hall at NAS North Island. The USS Theodore Roosevelt, also based at North Island, is preparing for its own deployment.

Coronado's schools have worked to ease transitions for military children. All four Coronado Unified School District campuses earned the California Purple Star School designation in March 2023, according to a CUSD announcement. Military-connected students made up 41% of the district's enrollment as of that announcement.

That matters.

"Coronado schools do this amazingly well," then-Capt. Newt McKissick, commander of Naval Base Coronado, said at the March 2023 designation ceremony. "It is incredibly important to our efforts."

Local event listings for Welcome Week are available at welcomeweek.bluestarfam.org/events/.