Topeka ? Three boys under 11 can be a handful for any mom, let alone one whose husband is halfway around the world.

A new program launched Friday by the governor’s office is aimed at making life less stressful for people like Adrienne Dickey, of Ottawa, whose loved ones are serving in the military.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Gary Sebelius, husband of Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, announced the creation of the Kansas Military Family Support Program, which is designed to match volunteers around the state with families of deployed servicemen.

“It is easier for soldiers’ families to cope with these difficult changes if they know that their community cares,” he said during a Statehouse news conference.

Community organizations will be matched with families through the National Guard and Army Reserve. Kansans interested in volunteering can find information about groups wanting to help military families on the governor’s Web site.

Such groups may be civic or faith-based groups willing to pitch in with household chores or basic support to families, giving spouses relief with daily duties.

Dickey, 29, of Ottawa, is the wife of Spc. Don Dickey, 31, who is deployed through June 2005 with the 2nd Battalion, 130th Field Artillery of the Kansas Army National Guard. The unit’s 350 soldiers have been in Iraq since March.

She said her three sons, Skylar, 10, Caleb, 8, and Kayden, 5 — decked out for the news conference in orange “Kansas Guard Youth” T-shirts and black Army shorts — are active in sports. Her husband had shuttled the active boys between practices.

“My grass is about knee high,” said Dickey, who works in a family readiness center for soldiers in 13 counties.

The absence of her husband, an eight-year veteran of the Guard, is being felt in daily chores to locating lost car keys, she said.

“Now that he’s gone, he was a tremendous help that you don’t realize,” Dickey said. “Your focus is making sure the kids are taken care of.”

Dickey’s husband is part of a unit doing security duties in Iraq. The unit’s soldiers hail from 102 cities, 43 counties and eight states. The battalion has its headquarters in Hiawatha, with units in Abilene, Atchison, Concordia, Horton, Marysville, Sabetha, Salina and Troy. The deployment represents about 6 percent of all Kansas Army National Guard soldiers.

In the past year, 3,200 National Guard and Army Reservists from Kansas have deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq. Another 1,100 Kansas Army National Guard soldiers are on alert for mobilization later this year, with other notifications expected.

Chief Warrant Officer Valerie Suddock said the first thoughts of soldiers preparing to deploy are typically financial concerns. Then, as time passes, the rigors of everyday life kick in. She said the new program fills in the gaps the families and existing support systems miss.

“It’s a piece of the big puzzle,” said Suddock, who administers family support programs for the Kansas National Guard. “The families of Kansas are going to benefit.”

Added Dickey: “If a spouse is getting overwhelmed, he or she needs help. It makes or breaks the family.”