Photo By Heather Ashley | Regan Edwards, 7, watches closely as an artist applies tiger markings to her face at a...... read more read more
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FORT HOOD, Texas — Soldiers and families launched pumpkins, competed in an obstacle course, fought Nerf wars and more Nov. 15 at the Rick Herrema Foundation Central Texas Pumpkin Palooza outside Abrams Physical Fitness Center at Fort Hood. The was the second event the foundation has hosted at Fort Hood. Games, inflatables, art stations and food were provided Saturday at no cost to Soldiers, veterans and their families to provide a no-stress opportunity for fun. “All they have to worry about is showing up,” said RHF Central Texas Executive Director Eric Ballester. “We know that we can create an opportunity for them to create fond memories, create something that is going to last well into the future.” Breanna Adams, program and event manager, RHF Central Texas, loves that RHF gives opportunities for families to come together and have so much fun. “They are all about serving the families,” she said. “It’s so important for our families to have opportunities and things to do together to strengthen their relationships and have fun because life is stressful and there are too many things we have to do separately from our kids or separate from our spouse.” When RHF references “families,” they mean the military community as a family — active-duty, reserve-component, veterans and retired personnel of all branches, married and single. “It’s for everyone; you don’t have to have a family to enjoy the events,” Adams said. “We have so many single Soldiers stationed here, and we invited them all to come and have fun.” The foundation’s focus is to build and strengthen families. “It is our heart to provide this fun, and opportunities for families to just get to have a day together,” Adams said. Secily Edwards brought her young children to Pumpkin Palooza for some family fun. While watching her daughter, Regan, 7, have tiger stripes and features applied at the face-painting station, Edwards said she enjoyed seeing her children have fun at Pumpkin Palooza. “I’m glad they do stuff like this,” she said. “It shows they care about the community.” Army veteran Micah Williams agreed. “It’s nice to be out here with family, having fun together,” said Williams, who attended with his wife, Juanita, who also volunteers with RHF, and their children. Nerf wars and free food are stalwarts at RHF events, but Adams said they change up activities to keep the events fresh and interesting. “We try to have something unique at each one,” she explained. “Our big, unique things at this one is pumpkin launching and an outdoor movie.” Ballester said the variety of activities offered is intentional to address all the different segments of the military population. “Everything we do is meant to address different segments of the population with the military family, and we don’t exclude single Soldiers,” he said. “We’re attempting to crack that code to say, ‘you’re encouraged to come out here because you’re a family, you’re a family to us, you’re a family to this community.” Attendees closed out the evening with an outdoor screening of the live-action movie, “How to Train Your Dragon,” on the softball field adjacent to Abrams Physical Fitness Center. Adams said they have had great partnerships with area businesses to make the RHF events a success. “This whole community at Fort Hood has been such a ‘yes’ community. It’s been so incredible the way that the businesses want to give back,” she said. “They want to be a part of what we’re doing. They want to serve families.” Named in honor of Sgt. 1st Class Richard J. Herrema, who was killed during a 2006 deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, and his life of service, RHF seeks to strengthen relationships and community for the military family through fun, inclusive activities. Originally established as Rick’s Place, an outdoor park at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the foundation recently expanded to Fort Hood as RHF Central Texas and is developing a park, tentatively coined the Great Ranch, near the Bernie Beck Gate of the installation, catered to Fort Hood. “It’s going to be a unique location, a unique program with events unique to this community, this culture,” Ballester explained. At Fort Hood, RHF is continuing the mission of connection and empowerment originally established at Fort Bragg, Ballester said, and that mission is personal for him. Ballester, an Air Force veteran who served 20 deployments as a combat controller, became involved with RHF in 2020 when he retired from service. A former teammate of Ballester established the foundation in 2014 and had discussed his plans with Ballester back then. After leaving active-duty service, Ballester felt called to continue to serve through RHF. “It’s the best mission you can possibly support; it was a no-brainer and the founder is just an incredible man,” Ballester said. “He’s an active-duty command sergeant major, still doing amazing things while serving, and then to be able to work alongside somebody that committed to the community and committed to his best friend. So he honors his best friend, Rick Herrema.” For more information about RHF Central Texas upcoming events and volunteer opportunities, visit http://facebook.com/RHFTexas or rhttp://hfnow.org/.
| Date Taken: | 11.26.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 12.09.2025 14:52 |
| Story ID: | 552516 |
| Location: | TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 4 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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