Twitter
Facebook
It’s lunchtime at the Clock Tower Café Army dining facility on Kleber Kaserne. Long lines of hungry Soldiers, small children and civilians, crowd every available inch. The sound of clinging silverware and laughter blend well with the familiar smells of barbecue ribs, candied yams, pecan pie and other palette pleasers.
In the middle of this lunch time whirlwind sit Patricia Boswell, Army Reserve Family Programs; Carmen Schott, Ramstein Family Advocacy Program; Patricia Tooson, Army Alcohol and Substance Abuse Program; and Sandi Magill, USAGK Employee Assistance Program coordinator.
Today, the four ladies have set up shop as part of the garrison’s “Brown Bag Lunch Sessions.” The program provides outreach information to service members, families and government civilians on issues like finances, relationships, deployments, drug and alcohol abuse, family advocacy, military one source and more.
Each week, the group travels to different dining facilities across the KMC to greet visitors and share their collective knowledge. “For me meeting the community members, interacting with them and showing them what we have to offer is one of the best parts of doing this,” Boswell said.
The Army program began earlier this year as a way to assist community members struggling with concerns stemming from sequestration and employee furloughs. Since that time, it’s undergone a few changes. The biggest and most recent one involved partnering with the Air Force.
“We love working together. We have a similar mission and similar goal and by doing this, we can maximize our efforts and avoid duplication,” Schott said. The two services began officially hosting the sessions jointly about a month ago. “One of the most important things is that we come together to provide these types of resources, teach classes together in the community and continue to build that Army and Air Force partnership. This is a way that we can really reach everybody and also get our class attendance numbers up. We make a great team.”
They also encourage other agencies to participate in the sessions. “The more the merrier. Our services are open to everyone from all branches of the military and to those who would like to promote their outreach programs” Tooson said.
Organizers say that they plan to continue the sessions at least through the end of the year. “The response was really good, and what we were finding was that people didn’t know what they didn’t know. They didn’t know that the resources were there. So by bringing it out and making it in front of them like this in a casual way, it helps them to be able to come and pick up whatever they might need,” Magill said.
The next “Brown Bag Lunch Sessions” are scheduled for Aug. 22 at the Sembach Community Activities Center, Aug. 29 at the Rhine Ordnance Barracks DFAC and Sept. 5 at Kleber DEFAC.
For a full schedule or for more information on the program call 479-2370 or 486-6254.
