FORT LEE, Va. (Sept. 5, 2013) -- Fort Lee is no stranger to donations and generous offers of assistance from the local community.
Civic groups, businesses and quite a few residents in the Tri-City Area and beyond have gone out of their way to show love and support of the military forces and families here. Oftentimes, it all happens behind the scenes -- no muss, no fuss and no fanfare -- but the givers know it is appreciated more than words can describe.
One recent gift with an approximate value of $12,000 elicited a special note of thanks from the installation's Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation Directorate. Youngsters in the Child, Youth and School Services program, single Soldiers and Army Community Service customers will benefit from the donation for many years to come.
"This is just one of the ways we can express our thanks to the military folks at Fort Lee," said George Wright, district manager for the Rent-A-Center retail chain, as workers from a local store unloaded four gaming systems, two televisions and a home theater combo for the Better Opportunities for Single Soldiers program.
The Aug. 27 delivery also included two top-load washers for CDC-Sisisky; an assortment of video gaming equipment, two televisions -- including a 47-inch Smart TV with web browsing capability -- and four laptop computers for CYSS School-Age-Services; and additional laptop/tablet computers for the ACS Automation Center.
"Many of us have a personal connection to the military and Fort Lee itself," Wright noted. "All of the store representatives (who made the delivery) are prior military. … I have an Army background (served as an infantry Soldier and lived at Fort Lee when his dad was assigned to one of the quartermaster units here). It's in our blood, and we're proud of our organization for showing its support to our brothers and sisters in uniform."
Sgt. Ryan Gilboy, BOSS president, said he is "truly touched and honored" by the gestures of support from Rent-A-Center and other community groups. "This new equipment will give us the ability to host some special activities at the BOSS Center like video game tournaments and movie nights," he added. "I think it's going to increase the popularity of our program as well. Single Soldiers will have a fun and relaxing place to hang out and socialize with others."
Lucretia Nickelson, the program operations specialist for CYSS, offered a more personal note of thanks to Rent-A-Center. "Our military dependents at CDC Sisisky will have cleaner, brighter clothing because of your donation," she said.
"Our program managers will be able to expedite training for our leadership staff with the TV/DVD combo sets. The donations you provided will service us for many years of training for our staff, many hours of fun for our military children and more. We truly thank you from the bottom of our hearts."
Community donations to FMWR each year average about $50,000 in cost, according to Ed Manuel, chief of the Non-appropriated Fund Support Services Division. The gifts include discount passes for local tourist attractions, free sports tickets, and one-time gestures like the free golf equipment that was contributed by a private donor in Richmond a few weeks ago.
Fort Lee is also awaiting the delivery of 500 donated calling cards, compliments of the Cell Phones for Soldiers Program, which will be given to deploying/deployed service members and their families.
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