Photo By Catherine Carroll | More than 40 Yellow Ribbon Community Partners were on hand to offer assistance and...... read more read more
MINNEAPOLIS - The 88th Regional Support Command hosted Army Reserve Soldiers and their family members at a Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program Event held in downtown Minneapolis, March 18-20, 2016. The event reached an outstanding 92 percent participation rate.
Number of attendees fluctuates depending upon deployment rotations, but the percentage of preregistered individuals who make it to an event reflects how well the program is working, not just during the event, but in the planning, coordinating and executing phases.
Sylvia Lopez, 88th RSC Yellow Ribbon Program operations officer, has worked with the Yellow Ribbon program for almost a year and has seen the percentages continue to increase.
“For this Yellow Ribbon Event, we are at 92 percent,” said Lopez. “That’s a very high percentage. It tells me we are getting the word out through social media, through intentional meetings and the whole execution part of it to make sure that people get the word to come to a Yellow Ribbon Event so they can benefit from the support and resources available,” said Lopez.
“It’s a team effort between the Yellow Ribbon points of contact and the command and unit leaders who are pushing out the message that we are here to do a job,” said Lopez.
“The more Soldiers hear about the services and support available and the more they attend the training classes, they are going to get something that’s beneficial to them and it’s going to open up a whole new world and address a need they possible didn’t even know they needed,” said Lopez.
Brig. Gen. Sandra Alvey, 807th Medical Command brigadier general, attended the event alongside her Soldiers in the 361st Medical Logistics Company, who are 90 days post-deployment.
“I see the Soldiers getting the benefit of knowing what services are available, which is very different from when I had to deploy back in the 90’s,” stated Alvey. “Along with the training and support services,” Alvey continued, “the Soldiers and family members are enjoying the good food and hospitality.”
Alvey spoke with Army Reserve Ambassadors Gerald Meyer, from the state of Wisconsin, and James Lundell, from the state of Minnesota, about support available for Soldiers attending the event.
Meyer explained that an Army Reserve Ambassador primarily does two things – promote and educate.
“We promote and educate our local communities in our states on the Army Reserve and their mission,” said Meyer. “We promote at local events. We promote through our legislators. We talk to state assembly congress representatives in our area and anyone who can influence the benefits, the mission and the support for Army Reservists in our local area.”
At Yellow Ribbon events, ambassadors address everything from issues with the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, or USERRA, to referring Soldiers and Family members to their specific state ambassadors.
“We provide contact information to connect soldiers to their local congressional representative,” Meyer stated, “to help them resolve issues including ongoing age old pay problems, challenges with their civilian employers, or new deployment issues. If Soldiers have already gone through their units and still need help getting issues resolved beyond that, we are an asset to help them get to the right entity,” continued Meyer.
“Soldiers were much more reluctant to reach out when the wars first started because of lack of knowledge, not knowing where to go, who to contact, what their rights were,” Meyer said. “Now a days, Soldiers are much more amenable to coming and talking to us, coming to the Yellow Ribbons and finding out how to help their families get their benefits and how to navigate the system to make things right for themselves and for their deployments.”
“I have been an ambassador for 4 terms,” Myers said. “Ten years now under my belt and it’s hard to believe it’s been that much time, but after 14 years of war it’s been a very busy time.”
In addition to Army Ambassadors, more than 40 Yellow Ribbon Community Partners were available to offer assistance and information. These included representatives of multiple military resources, as well as employers and colleges.
“The end state is always the same,” Lopez stated, “to help Soldiers and their Family members and let them discover that they are not alone. There are a lot of people who are going through what they are going through and the Yellow Ribbon Program creates an environment where they can experience that connection.”
| Date Taken: | 03.20.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 03.22.2016 15:35 |
| Story ID: | 193153 |
| Location: | MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, US |
| Web Views: | 71 |
| Downloads: | 3 |
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