Photo By 94th Airlift Wing | Members of the Military Single Parenting Club listen to a guest speaker during a...... read more read more
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SEYMOUR JOHNSON AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. – The Military Single Parenting Club is was founded in November 2015. Its mission is to provide an environment of resiliency, mentorship, and instill confidence in members who wish to be competitive in their careers with the pressures of single parenthood.
The club has about a dozen members, who meet on the second and fourth Fridays of the month. On the second Friday, members meet at the Family Life Center and the on the fourth Friday, members meet a pre-designated location for some family fun.
“The second Friday meeting we go over agenda items, volunteers opportunities coming up, and decide where we’ll have the next meeting,” said Master Sgt. Angela Baker, 4th Medical Support Squadron superintendent. “The fourth Friday we have off-site, like our next meeting will be at the bowling alley.”
The club’s vision is to foster an environment of single parent wingmanship and provide a forum addressing the needs of single parents.
“Having a single parent club is awesome,” said Tech. Sgt. Renee Gilliam, 4th Fighter Wing equal opportunity advisor. “They have helped me probably more than I even know being that I’m new here, having just arrived in October. Now I’m off to the NCO academy and members of the club are helping me out by watching my kids while I’m gone over the next few weeks.”
Another goal of the club is to provide every opportunity for its members to shoot for the stars, according to Baker.
“I want to show that just because you’re a single parent doesn’t mean you can’t aspire to be a master sergeant or senior master sergeant,” said Baker. “A lot of people wind up getting out because they don’t think they can devote the time to be competitive and they tell themselves that and they start believing it, so they stop shooting for the stars and settle for the moon.”
The Military Single Parenting Club plans to work with the Airman and Family Readiness Center to provide info and opportunities to its members who don’t technically fall under the deployed military spouse programs. During their meetings they also plan to have guest speakers come and talk on various topics of interest to the group.
“I think it should be mandatory to have a single parents group on every base,” said Gilliam. “When you PCS to a new base you don’t know anyone and to be able to come into a group and to have them tell you ‘Hey, we know you don’t know anyone yet, but we’re here for you if you need anything,’ is an awesome feeling.”
| Date Taken: | 02.29.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 02.29.2016 14:55 |
| Story ID: | 190466 |
| Location: | NORTH CAROLINA, US |
| Web Views: | 71 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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