Spangdahlem Air Base Community Center

Photo By Senior Airman Kiana Mitchell | Laura Bessega, Former Community Center Program Specialist, plans the next Community Center event, The Picasso Competition, Jun. 1, 2020, Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany. The competition is one of the first in person events the Community Center has held since before Covid-19. (U.S. Air Force photo by SrA Kiana Mitchell)  

SPANGDAHLEM, RP, GERMANY

12.23.2020

Story by Senior Airman Kiana Mitchell 

AFN Spangdahlem

SPANGDAHLEM AIR FORCE BASE, Germany –
The Community Center here at Spangdahlem Air Base provides services to the community including youth, teens, Airman, and their families. They offer passport photos, music lessons and language lessons, but their main priority is keeping the morale as high as possible by throwing events that everyone can enjoy. Due to Covid-19, some events have had to be canceled and hours of operation have been reduced but that hasn’t stopped the workers at the Community Center from coming up with different ways to still have fun.
“We put our attention on events that we could do and that was how we came up with the drive in movie theater solution” said Laura Bessega, the former Community Center Program Specialist. “The Brickhouse is still closed for group and social events but we offer the facility for virtual events. We’re trying to entertain our friends here at Spangdahlem with virtual Facebook events like a cooking class and trivia questions.”
One good thing that has come out of the pandemic is that it has pushed them to think outside of the box when it comes to their events. Ivonne Torres, the new Community Center Recreational Specialist, says that they have to think differently. “We have to be able to offer different kinds of activities, thinking how we can separate people, how we can limit this and reduce the amount of people at each event. Just to see how what we’re doing will affect the outcome of the event in general.”
As a Recreational Specialist, Torres works on programs and is in charge of figuring out what they can do to bring different types of groups in. She has put together multiple different events including an UNO tournament, a Parent and Princess “Par-Tea,” and a Latin dance night. “I love my job” said Torres. “It’s great to be able to offer a variety of things to different kinds of people and then to actually see it happen is a different kind of joy.”
The impact that the Community Center has is a big one. Torres talks about how their events positively affect Airman and their families on base.
“I think that providing something for kids, adults and veterans is very important especially in a situation like this. We provide different opportunities to learn new things and…do events like giving away free food so airmen don’t have to worry about packing their lunch. So being able to provide those things, I think is why the Community Center is so important.”
To see what events are coming up, visit facebook.com/52DFSS.

• Date Taken: 12.23.2020
• Date Posted: 12.23.2020 08:08
• Story ID: 385680
• Location: SPANGDAHLEM, RP, DE