Photo By Rick Emert | Yvonne Coombes Is the Armed Forces Insurance is the Military Spouse of the Year in the...... read more read more
By Scott Prater
Mountaineer staff
FORT CARSON, Colo. — Yvonne Coombes said she was overwhelmed when she learned she was named as Fort Carson’s Spouse of the year earlier this month. Just this week, however, Coombes was notified that she had reached a new level in the Armed Forces Insurance Military Spouse of the Year program, by taking the honor as the entire Army’s representative.
She’ll now move on to the highest level of the competition, as she’s in the running to earn the title of Military Spouse of the Year for all branches of military service.
“It’s exciting,” said Coombes, wife of Lt. Col. Mike Coombes, commander, 3rd Battalion, 29th Field Artillery Regiment, 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division. “I know a lot of military spouses who volunteer, and I don’t think this is just lip service. A lot of us say we don’t do this type of thing for recognition, and we don’t, but when you do get a little bit of that spotlight it is a bit overwhelming. I’m extremely honored, but still spinning a bit.”
Nominations for the award came from community members nationwide and were accepted November through January. Installation-level winners moved on to compete at the branch-level and finalists were considered for the overall 2020 Armed Forces Insurance Military Spouse of the Year. Winners were all selected by popular vote and judging panels. As a branch winner, Coombes is now in consideration of being named the national spouse of the year. The overall winner will be unveiled at an awards dinner May 7, 2020, at The Army Navy Country Club in Arlington, Virginia, in conjunction with National Military Spouse Appreciation Day, May 8, 2020.
The military spouse of 19 years and mother of two was nominated for her work as a volunteer, both with a nonprofit organization she co-founded, Operation Deploy Your Dress (ODYD), and as a youth soccer coach at Fort Carson.
Coombes and a small group of military spouses started ODYD in 2015 while they were at Fort Bliss, Texas.
“At the time, there were three organizations at Fort Bliss hosting military balls,” Coombes said. “We were all friends living in the same neighborhood and we wanted to do a dress swap, which is not uncommon on most military installations. So we thought we would collect a couple hundred dresses in a community center over a weekend. We reserved the community center and thought we would just give them away and go back to our lives afterward.”
Within the first week, ODYD picked up some national media attention. The friends’ couple-hundred-dress goal was quickly exceeded, and after a couple of months, they had collected a few thousand dresses.
She explained the impetus behind the effort was to boost attendance at formal events, especially among the junior-ranking Soldiers and their Family members.
“A ball gown is a lot of money for any Family, and some Families have to decide between buying a ball gown and putting food on the table,” Coombes said. “Ninety-nine percent would choose food. So as a result, people were being inadvertently left out of these events. We were trying to find a way to cut the cost of the evening so it was accessible to anyone who wanted to go.”
Since 2015, ODYD has expanded exponentially. The organization now has outlets at seven military installations and receives dresses from all over the country, mostly from civilian families. Coombes now serves as ODYD’s chief executive officer and works long hours to preserve the organization’s goals and intents.
“We’re giving the American population a tangible way to support the troops,” she said. “A lot of times people will say they want to support our troops, but then they’ll ask, ‘what can we do?’ And no one has an answer for them … This is a way for them to physically go out and do something that is supportive.”
The Coombes Family arrived at Fort Carson last June and Yvonne quickly set up an ODYD here, finding space at the Fort Carson Thrift Shop to store and show dresses collected nationally and locally.
She now spends much of her time managing the Fort Carson location as well as directing the national ODYD effort, but still has time to coach youth soccer on post and join other volunteer efforts.
“Yvonne literally hit the ground running after she arrived at Fort Carson,” said Marrisa Wentling, vice president, Family Programs, Pikes Peak Chapter Association of the U.S. Army. “For her, it isn’t just about deploying dresses for our military spouses, it’s about so much more. Every idea she has about giving back to her community she accomplishes. We partnered to help distribute almost 200 tons of food with the Care and Share Food Bank one weekend, made multiple goodie bags for Operation Homefront and then she closed out the year making sure to help track Santa for children all over the globe.”
As for the next level of the Military Spouse of the Year, Coombes is taking a wait-and-see approach, but she’s comfortable knowing what panelists and voters are looking for as they decide on a national winner.
“Operation Deploy Your Dress is more than just giving somebody a dress and making them feel pretty for a day,” Coombes said. “I think the judges are trying to highlight what military spouses are doing … it’s the community that’s being built, getting people to a military ball where they can meet other people in their unit, make friendships and build camaraderie.”
| Date Taken: | 03.09.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 03.13.2020 10:40 |
| Story ID: | 365142 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 301 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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