FORT BRAGG, N.C. (USASOC News Service, March 6, 2014) - All around the country, dedicated people have come together to give their time and service to their country and their communities in order to make both a better place.
Janelle Preman has answered the call of her country and has worked with military, national and community organizations. She is being awarded, for her hard work and dedication, the President's Volunteer Service Award by the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation.
?"Our country is a better and stronger force for good in the world because more and more we are a people that serve," said President Barack Obama in a speech honoring volunteers (when?). "In times of tight budgets and some very tough problems, we know that the greatest resource we have is the limitless energy and ingenuity of our citizens."
Preman, a security specialist for the U.S. Army Special Operations Command's security division (G2), was presented the award March 6, 2014, by Byron Castleman, Preman's supervisor.
Civic service has always been a part of her life since she was a child. She said she was blessed by others in her past and felt like she needed to pass her good fortune to others.
"I was given a lot so I feel that I should give back," said Preman. "There is a lot that we can do for our community. We need to let the community outside of Fort Bragg know that we care and that we are more than just people who work on the base."
The command has recognized the importance of her work and how it has benefited the relationship between the military and the community.
"We have given her our full support," said Castleman. "It is important that we (the command) reach out to the community and give back because we are a part of them. It improves the working relationship that we have with them and improves the community health."
"I think volunteering is an obligation," Preman explained. "I think that everybody should be obligated to give back and serve their community. Even if it is as small as a smile, you should give back."
One of the projects Preman is currently working on is the Lightening Friends & Family Organization. She is a founding member of the organization and currently serves as the treasurer.
The group is working to raise money for a permanent monument to those who lost their lives while serving with the 525th Military Intelligence Brigade. The 525th is one of the few units that doesn't have a monument on Fort Bragg.
"She is a valuable asset to the foundation," said Br'ann Carlisle, the organization's secretary. "Her passion and love for the organization and the Soldiers is amazing."
Preman has organized fundraisers for the foundation and worked to get funding through the Combined Federal Campaign.
"She is the most organized and financially savvy of us," Carlisle said. "She makes the right call when it comes to fundraising."
Her other volunteer work includes the USASOC Family Readiness Group, the Special Emphasis Program Committee and the Daughters of the American Revolution. She is married to a former Special Operations Soldier, Master Sgt. Lou Sanchez.
Since 2003, the U.S. presidential office has recognized Americans for their outstanding work in their community with the President's Volunteer Service Award.
?"The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something," President Obama said. "Don?'t wait for good things to happen to you. If you go out and make some good things happen, you will fill the world with hope, you will fill yourself with hope."
"If everybody gave to the community think of how great that would be," Preman said. "It would be a happier place."
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