Photo By Monica Wood | Sara Young, USO Oklahoma, is the volunteer of the year for the civilian/family member...... read more read more
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FORT SILL, Oklahoma (April 21, 2022) A Soldier, a Department of the Army civilian and a civilian/family member were each named Volunteer of the Year April 21, 2022 at a Patriot Club ceremony.
Col. Michael Kimball, chief of staff, Fires Center of Excellence and Fort Sill, recognized each nominee at the event and presented the awards. Kimball said there have been five volunteer recognition ceremonies during the past year, recognizing a total of 115 great teammates who have each made tremendous efforts, both on Fort Sill and in the community.
According to Kimball, from the initial 115 volunteers recognized, each unit organization then nominated one for each of the three categories to be their organization’s Volunteer of Year nominee.
“One hundred and fifteen volunteers — that alone is pretty amazing,” said Kimball. “From 115 to 15. To be here tonight, these nominees have given at least 300 hours of their time freely to various organizations or charities. The impact each have made is astounding. This group is truly the best of our best. Let me just say what an accomplishment it is for each of you to make it here tonight.”
In the service member category, there were six Soldiers nominated. Staff Sgt. Tyrese Scott-Neal, Fort Sill Marine Detachment; Sgt. 1st Class Kionna Huewitt, 30th Air Defense Artillery Brigade; Sgt. 1st Class Michael Scholl, 31st Air Defense Artillery Brigade; Staff Sgt. Bryan Smith, 75th Field Artillery Brigade; Staff Sgt. Paige Louque, 434th Field Artillery Brigade; and Staff Sgt. Brian Macauley, 428th Field Artillery Brigade.
Huewitt, who has volunteered for 13 years, is the volunteer of the year in the service member category. She volunteers many hours at the Brookridge Retirement Center, MacArthur Middle School, Almor West Elementary School, Freedom Elementary School, the Veterans home, and is currently helping coach a youth basketball team.
“Volunteering just humbles me,” said Huewitt. “I just love seeing the reaction from other people, the smiles on their faces. It relieves stress for me to get away from the workplace and do something fun that's not planned. You don't know how things are going to go so I just really enjoy the reactions that I get from others.”
Three Department of the Army civilians nominated for volunteer of the year were Dominic Palowski, Fort Sill garrison; Alfred Sandoval, 428th Field Artillery Brigade; and Jean-Paul Larue, Medical Command.
Larue, who has volunteered for 23 years, is the DA civilian volunteer of the year. He volunteers as a Boy Scout leader and supports St. Jude and the Oklahoma Kids Korral, a facility where children and their families can stay while the children receive treatment at OU Children's Hospital. He participated in the Fifth Annual St. Jude Walk/Run in support of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. He operates an online blog called "The Other "C" Word" to help other families who have lost a child to cancer.
“St. Jude's is something that I started doing almost seven years ago in 2015, because my son passed away from cancer seven years ago at the age of 5. That year my family and I participated in the St. Jude's welcome one city. From there, we just did it every single year until COVID stopped us,” he said. “I do it to give back to the community which gave me so much.” time to think very much all together like my entire life.”
There were six civilian/family members nominated for the volunteer of the year. The six included Kaitlin Cook, 75th Field Artillery Brigade; Rachel Hollamen, 428th Field Artillery Brigade; Kristine Rodriguez-Tosado, Fort Sill Thrift Shop; Wendi Iacobello, 434th Field Artillery Brigade; Sara Young, USO; Samantha Arellano, 30th Air Defense Artillery Brigade.
Sara Young is volunteer of the year for the civilian/family member category. Young is a military spouse who has volunteered with USO Oklahoma for seven months and has logged more than 345 hours. She has volunteered for the Altus Air Force Base Woman’s History Month Expo, 2nd Battalion, 18th Field Artillery’s Deployment Bag Distro, 3rd Battalion, 13th Field Artillery’s Homecoming, 2nd Battalion, 6th Air Defense Artillery Drill Sergeant’s Breakfast, 2nd Battalion, 20th Field Artillery’s Sweets on Wheels, Super Bowl LVI Party, Fueling the Forces Wednesday Lunch and many Welcome Desk shifts.
“I love getting out of the house, meeting new people and socializing,” said Young. “Now that my kids are in school full time, I have the time to be able to do that. I'm a stay-at-home mom and I do this while my kids are still present. It feels great to help others. I love it and I especially like doing events out in the field with the Soldiers.”
Young encourages everyone to volunteer. “Just go out and do it. It doesn’t hurt anything and there are a lot of different opportunities to get out there and meet people and get out of the house,” she said.
| Date Taken: | 04.21.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 04.25.2022 12:40 |
| Story ID: | 419201 |
| Location: | FORT SILL, OKLAHOMA, US |
| Web Views: | 144 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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