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***image1***“Heroes at Home” were honored April 19 at the U.S. Army Garrison Kaiserslautern’s volunteer recognition ceremony at the Armstrong Community Club on Vogelweh Housing.
Volunteers donated close to 100,000 hours this year − a savings of more than $1 million dollars, said Angela Bellamy, USAGK Volunteer Corps coordinator.
“Our volunteers take care of families during deployments, wounded troops and children throughout the KMC, and they are definitely the ‘Heroes at Home,’” said Mrs. Bellamy.
This ceremony is a way to say “thank you” to the almost 1,300 KMC members who are registered with the garrison’s volunteer program, said Mrs. Bellamy. That number does not include the more than 1,200 people who volunteer for the garrison’s Special Olympics Spring Games every year.
Close to 100 of these heroes were presented with volunteer awards in front of a crowd of more than 300 community members.
***image2***The first-ever Angel Award recipients were Arlo and Teri Frederick. They are emergency placement parents for the garrison’s Army Community Service, providing 24-hour home care for children who cannot be cared for by their families. The ACS’s emergency care placement program is similar to the foster care system in the United States.
Volunteer of Distinction honors went to Laurie West, the Family Readiness Group leader for Headquarters, Headquarters Company of the 37th Transportation Command. She hosted meetings and dinners, and contacted family members here and in the States during the unit’s year-long deployment to Kuwait and Iraq. Her husband, Army Maj. Ted West, the unit’s HHC commander, said he feels that volunteers are our “Heroes at Home.”
“A lot of the things we have to offer to Soldiers and their family members here are supported in part or in some cases solely by volunteers,” he said. “We would not have a lot of services that we have if we didn’t have people volunteering.”
Mrs. West volunteered 1,150 hours teaching Sunday school to first graders and Army Family Team Building classes to FRG leaders and spouses new to military life, and volunteering at the schools, Kaiserslautern-Landstuhl Spouses Association and child care development centers.
The youngest recipient of the night was 13-year-old Alexa Harris, who was crowned as the Teen Volunteer of Distinction. She volunteered 125 hours as the president of the Torch Club, which is a youth leadership club for middle school students sponsored by the garrison’s teen center.
Surprise of the night went to the Torch Club when the 11 members were presented with The Presidential Volunteer Services Award from the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. They earned the award by volunteering 300 hours from baking cookies to assisting the garrison with its Toy Outreach Program. Torch has now moved to the Bronze Level of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. This level is given only to clubs that are active in their communities, said Belynda Smith, the garrison’s Child and Youth Services coordinator.
Winning the Group of the Year Award for the second year in a row was the garrison’s Better Opportunities for Better Servicemembers.
The BOSS program in most Army communities stands for Better Opportunities for Single Soldiers, but because of the joint KMC demographics, the name was changed locally to servicemembers around 1997 to encourage other U.S. military branches here to take advantage of the same opportunities afforded to Soldiers. The 50-member BOSS group volunteered 2,600 hours throughout the community, from picking up trash to dressing up like animals for a children’s function.
Various agencies and organizations throughout the community nominated 22 Volunteers of Excellence, and each were recognized at the ceremony. These volunteers worked 14,635 hours at organizations such as the American Red Cross, United Service Organizations, chapels and schools. A 12-member committee reviewed nominations. Volunteer activities, hours and impact to the community were listed on nominees’ forms, but their names were withheld, said Mrs. Bellamy.
