Anton Family Nominated for National Volunteer Award

By Adapted from Redstone-Huntsville AUSAApril 24, 2008

Serving Couple
(Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

The Redstone-Huntsville Chapter of the Association for the U.S. Army has nominated the Anton family for the AUSA Rubbermaid-Irwin Family of the Year 2008 Award.

Dale and Kim Anton have devoted many hours to the support of the Redstone military community, as evidenced by their commitment to the health, well-being, and demonstration of appreciation for many of the troops and their families over the years. Dale, a logistics engineer with DRS Test & Energy Management, has worked at Redstone Arsenal as a defense contractor for 11 years.

"It's kind of embarrassing to think that just doing the right thing is enough to get you recognition for something like this," Dale said.

Kim has been an active volunteer on Redstone Arsenal for the past five years. She began her volunteer service for the Redstone community with the American Red Cross, volunteering at Fox Army Health Center in the Physical Therapy and Optometry Clinics. While volunteering at Fox, Kim assisted active duty, reserve and retired patients as well as their family members with appointment scheduling and helped moving between clinics. She often volunteered to work on her off days if the clinics expected more patients than normal due to deployment screenings or retiree support days. She assisted the staff by performing receptionist and clerk tasks as needed as well as preparing treatment rooms between patients.

"I was very surprised (at this recognition)," Kim said. "But I think it's a great honor to be nominated."

Her desire to care for and serve Soldiers and their families was recognized by the Fox Army Health Center command and her immediate supervisors with a certificate of recognition. Kim recorded more than 1,360 hours of service to the Redstone community while volunteering at Fox.

Kim is the volunteer program manager of the Army Community Service volunteer program. She has served in this position for the past one and a half years. Prior to accepting this position, she was a volunteer front desk receptionist for ACS.

As volunteer program manager, Kim is responsible to the ACS director and the Redstone community for the successful administration of the ACS volunteer program. She oversees day-to-day operation including the recruitment, orientation and assignment of ACS volunteers of one of the most successful ACS offices in the Army. Kim has given more than 1,580 hours of service to the Redstone community through ACS.

Prior to volunteering on Redstone Arsenal, Kim was a volunteer front desk receptionist at a not-for-profit radio station in Huntsville. She also serves as a nursery worker at her church and has on her own taken on the task of ensuring that all nursery linens and blankets are laundered and maintained.

Dale works for DRS Test & Energy Management where he proposed and helped organize DRS TEM's first ever Future Soldier Event. He worked closely with the Huntsville Army Recruiting Company commander to ensure this event helped the Army recruiters with their recruiting efforts and that the future Soldiers were given a chance to see some of the high tech equipment they may have a chance to work with during their enlistment. The event also involved the military veterans of DRS TEM as escorts for the future Soldiers.

He has been the DRS TEM fund-raising coordinator for United Cerebral Palsy of North Alabama for nine of the past 10 years, resulting in employee donations in excess of $15,000.

"My hope is that other people will see this (award nomination) and say I can do that," he said of his volunteer work.

Dale is a servant leader at Hope Church where he has served as chairman of the deacon board for the past three years. He serves as a deacon and bookkeeper responsible for payroll and ensuring that ministry teams are funded and enabled to care for the physical needs of members of the church and the surrounding neighborhoods. He is responsible for administering the church budget and benevolence programs as well as leading a small group Bible study.

He helped Sunday school classes and small groups within Hope Church connect with and adopt individual deployed Soldiers and their families. This program has assisted many families through difficult times due to deployment of a family member. The Antons have been actively involved with one such Huntsville family.

Dale and Kim have ridden with the Patriot Guard Riders of North Alabama, using vacation and personal time to provide honor at the deployment and return of troops and providing escort and flag lines for fallen veterans of current and past service.

The Association of the U.S. Army's Family Programs Directorate invites nominations for the 2008 AUSA Newell Rubbermaid Volunteer Family of the Year Award to recognize the vital role volunteers and families play in the life of military communities. The award will be presented Oct. 6 at the opening ceremony of the association's annual meeting (Oct. 6-8) at the Washington Convention Center. The winning family will receive a trip to Washington, D.C. for the annual meeting, a cash prize and a gift basket courtesy of Rubbermaid, AUSA and GEICO. Two runner-up families will also be selected and each will receive a savings bond and gift basket. All nominated families will receive an association coin and certificate.