FORT RUCKER, Ala. (July 5, 2013) -- Freedom Fest often takes up a lot of time for organizations on post that organize vendors, entertainment and traffic routes, but two Family-focused programs took the plunge to transfer offices during one of the busiest times of the year at Fort Rucker.
Army Community Service and Directorate of Family, Morale, Welfare and Recreation switched offices last month in order to better serve their customers, said Evy Bludsworth, DFMWR deputy director.
"The base of ACS is in our old office, Rm. 350, and DFMWR headquarters is in ACS's old space in Rm. 390 now," she said. "We wanted to address the needs of our Army Families. This is just one way where we can provide for them better."
Other parts of ACS have gone into several different areas. Survivor Outreach Services is now on the ground floor of Bldg. 5700 in Rm. 102 and Army Family Team Building is now located at The Commons, Bldg. 8950.
"The ground floor is a better location for our survivors, and ACS needed more privacy," said the deputy director. "It is a space more conducive to the number of employees that they have and how they help Army Families. We at DFMWR headquarters needed a bigger space, more square footage."
Room 390 does not have much privacy, said Bludsworth, and Rm. 350 has more private offices, which ACS had a need for.
"When ACS counselors deal with Family advocacy or financial decisions or sexual assaults or any other issues that need to be addressed they need a private setting when they do their counseling," she said. "Now they have the ability to make their Soldiers or Family members more comfortable."
The privacy of individuals has been in the making for several years, said Bludsworth, adding that everyone is happy that it has finally come to fruition.
"The directors of DFMWR and ACS, and the garrison command team looked at what Families needed and what was available to make it happen. After they figured this was the best option for everyone, we began working on the logistics of moving," she said.
The switching of offices began June 7 and was completed June 21, with both organizations fully operational. All phone numbers, fax numbers and e-mail addresses remain the same.
An unexpected benefit of the move was a massive spring cleaning of files and of both offices.
"We found out that the people on the installation that support us when we go into do things like this were there for us, and they worked hand-in-hand with us and our information technology guys," said Bludsworth.
"The maintenance workers who helped us move the cubicles around and the people who worked with all of the communication pieces were phenomenal," she continued. "They worked so hard to make sure our phones were up on time and that our computers were down no more than a couple hours."
The deputy director said that both organizations really appreciate that exceptional service and that it made the move a lot smoother.
"Everyone pitched in and did their part. It was definitely teamwork and you couldn't ask for a better team to do it with," she said.
Though ACS and DFMWR remained open during the move and tried to provide as much service as possible, Bludsworth said she hopes that they were able to tackle everyone's needs.
"We really appreciate everyone's patience while we were moving offices. I know it was an inconvenience some days when people were not able to help them or had already relocated," she said.
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