The beginning of a new school year can be costly for parents. “This is my third time participating in the Back to School Brigade here at Travis.” “We have 100 families registered,” said Christian Mendoza, 60th Force Support Squadron school liaison officer. 2 at Travis Air Force Base, California, thanks to Operation Homefront’s Back-to-School-Brigade®.Įnlisted military families from airman basic to technical sergeant registered online to participate in the event. – Military children were given backpacks filled with school supplies Aug. Families can Betty Eissfeld at 51 to Wong at 347-569-8-47 if they need school supplies.TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. Fatmata Britton from Joint Force Headquarters, Wong said. Tarrie Harrison, from the 222nd Chem and Sgt.

Volunteers Jessica Murray and Edlin Rodriguez, from the 222nd Chemical Company, and Lisa Baldassano, from the 42nd Infantry Division Signal Company, played key roles in organizing the event as did Staff Sgt. Seventy military families picked up supplies on August 13 and 14, said Wong, who is also Master Sgt. And they put the word out that free school supplies were available. The supplies were sent directly to the unit family readiness program volunteers, so they also needed a place to store them which was not in their house, Wong said.Įach unit’s volunteer lead brought their supplies to Fort Hamilton and the team set up a distribution center in the Army Reserve Center at Fort Hamilton.

The supplies – book bags, notebooks, pens, pencils, crayons, and other items-are donated by Operation Homefront, a non-profit which supports military families. Normally, the supplies would have been made available to Soldiers and their families during the August drill weekend, said Melissa Wong, a military and family programs specialist.īut because the August drill was canceled due to funding shortfalls, the New York City units decided to distribute supplies from central location, she said. FORT HAMILTON, Brooklyn-Family readiness volunteers from New York City Army National Guard units teamed up to hold a combined school supplies distribution event at Fort Hamilton on August 13 and 14.

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