REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. (Dec. 13, 2018) – This holiday season, donation drives are happening all across the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Center, Aviation & Missile building, also known as AMRDEC, as employees gather together to focus on local veterans in need.
The Aviation & Missile Center has a unique military support staff comprised of 99 percent civilians. Unlike its active-duty counterparts, civil servants have the opportunity to remain in one location throughout their career and at being a more active community member.
Through community involvement, many develop connections and desire to find ways to give back to the Huntsville community. For several Aviation & Missile Center employees, the holiday season is the ideal time to do so.
The Quality Management Division is hosting a donation drive in support of the local rescue mission. Coats and blankets will be provided to homeless in the area and monetary donations will support a local Christmas Day meal program.
“(Quality Management) has always been community driven; I believe we have a team of compassionate individuals,” said Glenda McLaurin, section chief of the Missile Systems Quality Branch. “I believe people understand the holiday season can be very hard for those that are struggling and because it's a time of giving, they open their hearts to give,” she added.
This is the fifth time Carolyn Farmer, Reliability, Availability, Maintainability Engineering and System Assessment Division cargo and special projects team lead, has coordinated sponsoring local veteran families during the holidays. Her goal is to simply bring teams together and focus on one specific Army value: selfless service.
“The Christmas season brings an opportunity for my team to channel selfless service in assisting veterans and their families during times of need,” Farmer said. “This opportunity highlights the amazing generosity of our workforce... I am so grateful to be able to work and thrive in a community like Team Redstone which provides unwavering support to our local veterans.”
When Farmer contacted a local nonprofit organization that assists veterans and their families with employment placement and veteran benefits, she received requests for support from seven local families. She immediately reached out to the Aviation & Missile Center’s center support resource management office and the Engineering Directorate’s front office, and both lent their support by sponsoring several of the families.
“Around the holidays I think people realize how blessed they’ve really been to celebrate Christmas with their families,” said Josh Hersh, a RAM general engineer. “When people see other families struggling to provide a good Christmas, it just doesn’t sit right.” He added it has meant a great deal to be a part of the Aviation & Missile Center giving back to the community and to local veterans this season.
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The Aviation & Missile Center is part of the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command, which has the mission to provide innovative research, development and engineering to produce capabilities that provide decisive overmatch to the Army against the complexities of the current and future operating environments in support of the joint Warfighter and the nation. RDECOM is a major subordinate command of the U.S. Army Materiel Command.