Military Officer - February 2006 - (Page 50) chapteractivities CWO4 Charles Fouts, USA-Ret., and his wife, Jen, and Lt. Col. Jim Rollins, USAF-Ret., and his wife, Deborah, also went out of their way to help. The Foutses placed an announcement on their retirement community’s closed circuit TV system asking residents to contact them if they had clothing or furniture they wanted to contribute to hurricane victims. They collected and delivered the contributions to the USO. The Rollinses, who live on Amelia Island in Florida, also collected and delivered donations. While collecting in their community, the Rollinses met John and Nina Sammon, who wanted to donate their 1994 Chevy Suburban. The Rollinses asked McCarthy if she knew of a military family that needed a vehicle. Soon after, the vehicle was given to Petty Officer 1st Class Charles Rogers, USN, and his wife, Christine, who have four children between the ages of 4 and 17. They lost their home in Mississippi during the hurricane. “She was really, really grateful,” says Henderson. “Her husband was aboard ship, so he wasn’t able to be there when she got the keys. It felt good to be able to let this military family know there are people out there who care.” member Col. Jerry Bowen, USA-Ret., $200 to the Salvation Army Hurriand his wife, Connie, housed a young cane Relief Fund, while the West family from Gulfport, Miss., free for Suburban Chicago Chapter and the seven weeks until they found a place Santa Cruz (Calif.) Chapter each to rent. Meanwhile, 80-year-old Lt. contributed $500. The Huntsville Col. Johnny Thompson, USAF-Ret., (Ala.) Chapter also helped out, donating $250 apiece to the Army, Navy, of the Golden Triangle (Miss.) ChapAir Force, and Coast Guard emergen- ter, spent four days reconstructing houses in Gautier, Miss. cy relief funds. Maj. Jim Cunningham, Members of the USA-Ret., executive vice South Jersey Chap“It felt president for the Alamo ter decided to donate good … to (Texas) Chapter, helped $200 to the Mississippi Coast Chapter let this mil- hundreds of evacuees from Coast area who after learning several itary family the Gulftemporary housing were in members of that know there centers in San Antonio. chapter had lost are people Cunningham and his 15their homes. In year-old daughter, Grace, Texas, the Houston out there Area Chapter donatwho care.” worked more than 40 hours setting up telephone ed $500 to the Army— Lt. Ron Henderson, stations and laptop comNavy Hurricane USN-Ret. puters with Internet acRelief Fund, which cess so evacuees could used the money to contact their loved ones help military families or touch base with FEMA. who had been affected by the storm. Two officers in the Atlanta Chapter The Southside Virginia Chapter also pitched in to help with hurricane reached out to military families at relief efforts in their area. Second nearby Fort Lee, Va., donating $1,000 Vice President Col. Art Carey, USAto the Army Emergency Relief (AER) fund, which provides emergency loans Ret., spent five days collecting, sorting, and boxing donated clothing, and grants to soldiers who need help which was shipped to a relief organiwith a personal or family situation. zation in Baton Rouge, La. Chapter “Several soldiers from Fort Lee President Lt. Col. Mel Wilkerson, had to borrow money from AER to drive down to Florida to pick up their USA-Ret., collected six van loads of clothing, shoes, personal care items, family members affected by the Kaand food from area organizations and trina disaster and bring them back to delivered them to the Atlanta VA Fort Lee,” says Col. Victoria Revilla, USA-Ret., Southside Virginia Chapter Medical Center, which was caring for both veterans and nonveterans president. “The money we donated who had been evacuated from the assisted AER in closing or decreasing Gulf Coast. MO some of those loan paybacks.” In addition to donating money, — Contributors are Col. Chris Giaimo, many chapter members opened their USAF-Ret., director; Col. Jim Pauls, homes and hearts to those who had USAF-Ret., deputy director, Council and lost everything. MOAA board memChapter Affairs; and Kris Ann Hegle. For submission information, see page 20. ber and Northeast Arkansas Chapter Ongoing Relief M 50 OAA chapters and chapter members continue to contribute to hurricane relief efforts. The Albuquerque (N.M.) Chapter recently donated $2,000 to the American Red Cross. The money was raised through members’ contributions, with a matching donation coming from the chapter. Others, such as the Nashoba Valley (Mass.) Chapter, contributed MILITARY OFFICER FEBRUARY 2006
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.