104th Fighter Wing Wellness Center supports members, thrives with support of community

Photo By Randall Burlingame | The 104th Fighter Wing wellness team unloads trucks full of Holy Joe’s Café coffee donations for service members, at Barnes Air National Guard Base, Massachusetts. Donations from the community allow the wellness team to provide exceptional support and resources that meet the individual needs of each Airman.(U.S. Air National Guard courtesy photos)  

WESTFIELD, MA, UNITED STATES

10.03.2023

Story by Staff Sgt. Sara Kolinski 

104th Fighter Wing

The 104th Fighter Wing Wellness Center is an essential component of the wing with its primary mission being to provide support and resources to military members, ensuring they maintain physical, mental, and
emotional well-being. Members can receive support from the chaplains, the Director of Psychological Health, the Sexual Assault Response Coordinator, Airman and Family Readiness, and many others all in one central location.

When members walk into the Wellness Center, they enter a sanctuary where they can receive guidance, counseling, and camaraderie while being greeted with a shining example of how community support can play a pivotal role in ensuring the well-being of service members.

“We offer so much at the Wellness Center,” said Master Sgt. Brad Caney, 104th Wellness Team Military and Family Readiness assistant. “The main things that we see a lot of is helping folks with all the daily issues of financial burdens, a lot of employment help and resources, resume
assistance and a lot of contacts with local veterans’ organizations that assist with job placement as well.”

Part of the wellness team’s ability to deliver top-notch services hinges on the generosity of the local community. Items are donated to the center by various organizations and made available to the Barnestormers.

“We receive donations from so many local sources. We get school supplies, food, clothing, and baby supplies,” said Caney. “We have frequent contact with One Call Away out of Agawam, Project New Hope with the local chapter in Westfield, Western Mass Veterans Support Inc out of West Springfield and Worcester, and MA Military Support. We get contacted by other non-profits sometimes directly or through the veterans’ organizations with big donations, like the huge donation that we recently received of coffee in the form of k-cups and ground coffee.”

Master Sgt. Ashlee Bard, 104th Logistics Readiness Squadron Ground Transportation Supervisor, helped organize the recent coffee donation from Holy Joe’s Café. She stated that the process for community donations was overall very simple.

“My counterpart, Senior Master Sgt. Mungavin, at the 103rd in Connecticut reached out to me,” said Bard. “Holy Joe’s normally donates to Connecticut, but they didn’t have the room in their warehouse this time. I had the point of contact’s information, and he kept me in the loop every step of the way. I’d say it was two weeks from start to when we received the coffee.”

These donations provide service members with essential goods necessary for their diverse needs and help to boost morale while the Airmen train to return the favor and support the community at a moment’s notice.

“It is very important for the community to be involved, since the community is where the members of Barnes are actually from,” said Caney. “It is why I think the community is always so eager to help. It is more than just patriotism. It is the fact they know we are all basically just
neighbors looking out for each other.”

• Date Taken: 10.03.2023
• Date Posted: 10.03.2023 11:11
• Story ID: 455018
• Location: WESTFIELD, MA, US