Secretary of Defense Ash Carter (left) presents the 2016 Freedom Award to Dr. Phil Bender (second from right), the Superintendent of Prairie Grove Consolidated School District 46, at the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) Freedom Awards Banquet at the Pentagon on August 26.
The Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award was created by the Department of Defense to publicly recognize employers who provide exceptional support to their Guard and Reserve employees. The Freedom Award is the highest in a series of employer recognition awards given by the Department of Defense. Nominations for the Freedom Award must come from a Guard or Reserve member who is employed by the organization they are nominating, or from a family member.
LtCol Patty Klop, a Marine reservist assigned to 3D Civil Affairs Group, a subordinate command of Force Headquarters Group (FHG), nominated her civilian employer, Prairie Grove School Consolidated School District 46, in recognition of the exemplary support that Prairie Grove had provided LtCol Klop and her fellow service members during numerous sets of military orders. Prairie Grove was one of only 15 employers selected – nationwide – from thousands of nominations.
During those orders, the school collected donations to ship to LtCol Klop’s unit in Afghanistan, which included morale items for the troops and goodwill items for the Afghan locals. A Prairie Grove language arts teacher also created a writing assignment for his students which involved writing letters to combat veterans receiving medical attention in the area of Afghanistan where LtCol Klop and her unit were stationed. When the Prairie Grove students’ letters arrived – close to Veterans Day – they were distributed to wounded warriors.
Date Taken: | 08.26.2016 |
Date Posted: | 08.28.2016 20:33 |
Photo ID: | 2823243 |
VIRIN: | 160401-A-AB123-0046 |
Resolution: | 3264x2448 |
Size: | 1.18 MB |
Location: | US |
Web Views: | 35 |
Downloads: | 2 |
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