'Angels' awarded for community service

  • Published
  • By Mike Wallace
  • Skywrighter
Members of Wright-Patterson recognized outstanding volunteers in the base community April 17 during Angel Awards ceremony in the grand ballroom of the Wright-Patterson Club.

This event is conducted annually to recognize outstanding volunteers in the base community. A total of 40 individuals and two teams were nominated this year. 

Criteria for selecting Angel Award recipients are that the nominees, either individuals or groups, must be active duty or retired military or base employees, their spouses or dependents, or those whose only connection to the base is through their volunteer efforts. Their accomplishments must have taken place during the previous year either on base or in the local community, and volunteerism in the local community must have benefited the base.

The individual Angel Award recipients this year included:

· Angela Ashbeck -- for serving base families for 18 years through the Boy Scouts of America. She's also involved in church activities and is a regular donor for the base Armed Services Blood Program.

· Rhonda Gullette -- for setting up health screenings and workshops for at-risk individuals, volunteering at the Fisher-Nightingale House and performing community outreach with the Dayton Correctional Institution, Omega Baptist Church and School of Excellence, and the Vote Dayton organization.

· Chaplain (Capt.) Dwayne Jones -- for initiating numerous projects in support of base chapel activities and volunteering many hours to local homeless shelters, underprivileged youth programs, hospital visits and local church outreach efforts.

· Andrew LaRochelle -- for his efforts as a Boy Scout who supports environmental improvements, food drives and local nursing home visits. He also masterminded the "build-a-bear" project for children of deploying base service members. He also obtained community support, raised more than $5,000 and oversaw the efforts of 40 or more volunteers.

· Master Sgt. Laura Ogea -- for her efforts as a Key Spouse to five families who's delivered Thanksgiving food baskets and holiday presents to needy base families. She's also been involved with the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and Relay for Life.

· Ronnie Pope -- for his involvement in the Black Employment Special Emphasis Program on base and donation of his time to the Trotwood YMCA, Dayton Engineer Club and for his work as a tutor in Dayton and Trotwood local schools. 

· Capt. Heidi Priestley -- for her work as unit morale officer who regularly holds potluck dinners and collects and ships items to deployed military members. She also worked three cases dealing directly with seriously ill children and their families through the Make a Wish Foundation and volunteers with Bellbrook youth baseball and football teams.

· Ann Robinson -- for volunteering as a military income tax assistant on base and serving as the central regional coordinator for the Sew Much Comfort organization that designs, creates and delivers customized clothing to wounded military members.

· Kendall Rogers -- for his efforts as a volunteer chaplain to patients, family members and staff at the base medical center. He started a new chapel program in support of radiology outpatients and serves as a key advisor to hospital staff and chapel volunteers.

The Angel Award group recipient this year was the Key Spouse Program for providing on-call emotional support for families of deployed people and maintaining contact with the families to provide a link between the families needing assistance and unit leaders. The group provided support to more than a thousand families of people deployed and on remote tours in 2006.

Col. Albert P. Zelenak, 88th Mission Support Group commander, presided over the ceremony, and Tech. Sgts. Crystal Bagnardi, of the National Air and Space Intelligence Center, and Angela Gibson, of the Airman and Family Readiness Center, acted as co-emcees. In addition, Master Sgt. Shawn Stanley, of the Air Force Band of Flight, sang the national anthem following the posting of the colors by the base honor guard, and Chaplain (Maj.) Joshua Narrowe delivered the invocation. Sgt. Stanley also sang the song, "You Raise Me Up," in honor of the base volunteers.

Col. Zelenak concluded the ceremony saying, "I'm personally amazed at the amount of work you do. It's hard to say anything but 'Thank you.' The base couldn't operate without volunteers.

"Congratulations to all who received awards, to all those who were nominated and to all those not nominated but continue to do it because they want to. To every volunteer in this room, thank you."