Photo By Scott Sturkol | Fort McCoy Garrison Commander Col. Sheyla Baez-Ramirez talks with attendees at the...... read more read more
Subscribe
The 83rd Army Emergency Relief (AER) Campaign began officially at Fort McCoy on Feb. 26 with the 2025 campaign kick-off breakfast at McCoy’s Community Center at the installation.
The AER campaign runs from March 1 to June 14 this year, according to the AER webpage, www.armyemergencyrelief.org. AER helps provide emergency financial funds for food, rent, funeral expenses, emergency medical expenses, and other needs.
Contributions to AER help active-duty Soldiers (single and married) and their families, retirees and their family members, and surviving spouses or orphans of Soldiers who died while on active duty or after they retired.
The breakfast included dozens of Fort McCoy community members. The breakfast was organized by the Fort McCoy Army Community Service (ACS) Office with the Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation. Fort McCoy Garrison Commander Col. Sheyla Baez-Ramirez, Fort McCoy Deputy to the Garrison Commander Cameron Cantlon, and 1st Sgt. Thomas Ninkovich, first sergeant for Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC), U.S. Army Garrison-Fort McCoy, all were in attendance as well as Maj. Randy Downs, HHC commander. Numerous other guests were also present.
“Welcome to the kickoff campaign today,” Baez said. “Last year, Fort McCoy donated about $9,645 to our AER campaign, but we disbursed … over $40,000. So, my main goal here today is to reach leadership at all levels to ensure that Soldiers know about AER.
“AER is more than a campaign that collects money,” Baez said. “AER is a program that provides services to many families, and I’m sure that, you know, most of the leaders here have had an experience where you have taken a Soldier to get either an AER loan or a grant. Some of the examples of situations that Soldiers can utilize AER are for any type of financial hardship related to (when) they cannot pay their utilities, they cannot pay their rent, or they have a debt in the family.”
Baez emphasized the importance of informing troops about these resources available to them.
“I want to make sure that leaders at all levels understand the importance of the campaign, and our goal this year is that we contact every single Soldier,” Baez said. “We are going to also reach out to retirees and family members and also spouses and children of deceased Soldiers who can participate in this campaign. This campaign is to show how AER offers services for Soldiers, also for retirees, and we know that a lot of times military retirees could live under the scale, so we need to make sure that everybody understands … some of the things that the programs offer.
“In our goal for this year, we have two main priorities,” Baez said. “The first one is that every single person within the installation is contacted and understands the program. The second goal is that we can pass the goal from last year, and I think that (is possible).”
Fort McCoy Army Community Service’s (ACS) lead campaign coordinator, Janeen Folgers, who is the ACS Financial Program manager, led the discussion about the campaign. She noted how AER helps many people in many categories, including through financial assistance as well as scholarships.
“There is a scholarship program with AER,” Folgers said. “Worldwide, they awarded $9 million in scholarships to spouses and dependent children. AER programs (are) … authorized by your commander or your first sergeant or me or Mike. Years ago, it used to be the Soldiers had to go to their commander if they were having financial issues. They had to go to their commander and request assistance.
“Then the commander signs off, yes, you can get $2,000 from AER,” Folgers said. “But two or three years ago they changed it where there is also a direct program. A Soldier might not want to ask the commander for help. … Now they can come directly to Mike and myself. If the situation is such that they’re in dire straits as far as their financial situation, we will reach out to the commander and say, hey, the Soldier came to us.
“One thing, as a financial readiness specialist, if they come to me and have issues with their budget, I’m going to have them come back every paycheck,” Folgers said. “Come on in, let’s talk. Where's your money going? We can help them, but then we also circumvent that happening in the future.”
Folgers also noted that AER has provided more than $2 billion overall in assistance since 1942, and more than $1 billion since 9/11.
In addition to government civilian employees and Soldiers, retired Army personnel also can donate to the AER campaign. At Fort McCoy, contact Folgers or Michael Larsen at ACS for more information on how to donate and how to get support from AER. People can also get more information by visiting the AER website at www.armyemergencyrelief.org.
Fort McCoy’s motto is to be the “Total Force Training Center.”
Located in the heart of the upper Midwest, Fort McCoy is the only U.S. Army installation in Wisconsin.
The installation has provided support and facilities for the field and classroom training of more than 100,000 military personnel from all services nearly every year since 1984.
Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” on Flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/fortmccoywi, and on X (formerly Twitter) by searching “usagmccoy.”
Also try downloading the My Army Post app to your smartphone and set “Fort McCoy” or another installation as your preferred base. Fort McCoy is also part of Army’s Installation Management Command where “We Are The Army’s Home.”
| Date Taken: | 03.05.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 03.05.2025 02:13 |
| Story ID: | 492037 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: | 1,145 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Fort McCoy holds 2025 AER Campaign Kick-off Breakfast; officially begins drive to support AER, by Scott Sturkol, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
