ANSBACH, Germany (Feb. 18, 2014) -- Soldiers, their families, civilians, local national employees and retirees all hold membership in the U.S. Army Garrison Ansbach community. They are part of the community because they work here, live here, or can in some way use the resources the garrison provides.
Some community members go further. They volunteer their time, their strength, their organizational skills, their teaching abilities, their good will, their friendly nature and more. Army Community Service at Ansbach held a volunteer fair to encourage this spirit of giving among the community.
The fair took place at the Von Steuben Community Center at Bismarck Kaserne Jan. 27, 2014. In addition to hosting a number of volunteer organizations, the event included musical performances by Good Luck Penny and The Willy Pete Band, miniature Army Family Team Building sessions, an Exceptional Family Member Project arts and crafts adventure, a community arts project, a wounded warrior arts project and refreshments.
Brooke Covington, a volunteer instructor for Army Family Team Building, was at the event to teach the basics of AFTB. She traced her volunteerism back to her days as a student.
"Volunteering has always been extremely important in my life," said Covington. "I think I started in elementary school and junior high volunteering. I don't think I'd know what to do if I didn't do it, honestly. I think I'd be bored. I think I'd be miserable. I like being able to volunteer. I like being able to help other people. I like being involved in different things."
"Volunteering proves that you're part of the community and help to take care of your community," said Ken Aungst, a retiree who was at the event to represent American Legion Post 1982. "You're a giver, not just a getter. People should give more than they get, and I think that they will appreciate more what they do get."
In addition to the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the on-post chapel, the Child Development Center, SKIES Unlimited, and other organizations appeared at the event to offer attendees volunteer opportunities.
The Red Cross' outreach coordinator from Ramstein Air Base, Ron Jefferson, elaborated on the many different volunteer activities his organization has to offer.
"If you're CPR certified, you can become a CPR instructor," said Jefferson. "There are babysitting classes for teenagers to take before they can babysit on base. Also you can organize blood drives; a unit can sponsor a blood drive. You have to go through the Red Cross to do that.
"The Red Cross is a nonprofit organization, and without volunteers the Red Cross cannot do what they do for the military community," continued Jefferson. "The Red Cross is 95 percent a volunteer organization. There's only 5 percent that are paid employees. So it's very important for us to have volunteers."
Derek Walker, who represented youth sports on post, made clear his program's need for volunteers as well.
"We always need volunteers -- for coaches, for officials, for team parents -- anybody that just wants to help out," said Walker. "It's always good to have more coaches than less so there can be a back-up. Coming up is baseball, softball, and track and field in both Storck and Katterbach."
"ACS has plenty of volunteer activities," said Covington. "They are welcome to go and check with their ACS representative and office, and they will hook them up with pretty much anything. Any type of volunteering between staying at home and putting paperwork together or going out in the community doing instructing. There's tons of stuff; it's not just for one type of volunteer."
Andy Breuggen, a member of the Warrior Transition Battalion at USAG Ansbach, was at the event representing his unit to coordinate with other organizations on volunteer opportunities.
"I go to events like this to meet people, to network, and hopefully it helps me find a job somewhere," said Breuggen. "This is a way for us to look at groups and people that are in our community that we could possibly volunteer for to help out."
Carolin Carson, an ACS program specialist, was on hand to help people register and navigate the Volunteer Management Information System, or VMIS. VMIS is the Army-wide tracking system for volunteer activities.
"It's all about big Army seeing how much our volunteers are actually doing, and that's the system they look at," said Carson. "They look at one central system, and they look at the hours that are connected to that. And we collect hours from the school, the Girl Scouts, the Boy Scouts, private organizations if they wish to do so."
Danielle O'Donnell, the Army Volunteer Corps coordinator with ACS, helped organize the event. She was pleased that the event could provide fun -- the live musical acts, the arts projects -- to the volunteers as well as promote volunteer opportunities.
"The idea of this event is to get the information out there in a fun way," said O'Donnell. "These are the perks of my job. I get to bring this to the community. I get to have fun with the community. I get to work with volunteers, whom I adore because they're giving their time. So what can we give back to them? That's the whole purpose of the volunteer corps, giving back to the community, getting people involved and getting awareness out there."
Other attendees at the event found volunteerism to be its own reward.
During Christmas last year, American Legion Post 1982 held a party for an orphanage in Illesheim.
"Just to see the faces of those children with the gifts that were given by the legion on that day was worth my whole year of volunteering," said Aungst. "To see the children smile and cry because they got something was worth all the effort that we put into it."
To learn more about volunteer opportunities at USAG Ansbach, visit ACS at Katterbach Kaserne in Bldg. 5817 or call 09802-83-2883 or DSN 467-2374 or visit ACS at Storck Barracks in Bldg. 6510 or call 09841-83-4555 or DSN 467-4555.
Related Links:
USAG Ansbach Army Community Service directory entry
USAG Ansbach Army Community Service
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