Illinoisan of the Year supports military families

Published Aug. 4, 2010
By Airman 1st Class Amber R. Kelly-Herard
375th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs

SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. -- When servicemembers deploy, most of them end up missing a major holiday with their family.

To ease the hardship of missed holidays, local teenagers from "Speak Out for Military Kids" created "Holiday Walk," an event that allows families of servicemembers getting ready to deploy or returning from deployment to celebrate all of the missed holidays at the same time. The event consists of rooms decorated for every major holiday including Christmas, Fourth of July, Easter, and special dates such as birthdays and anniversaries.

The first event was scheduled for spring of last year, but the kids ran into a glitch with funding and they were going to cancel the event until Eric Lampman got involved. Because of Mr. Lampman's efforts, he was named one of 10 Illinoisans of the Year.

"I took a look at their plans and saw that they had everything they needed so there was no reason they couldn't do it," said Mr. Lampman.

"The biggest obstacle was getting a dinner, so I contacted L'Ecole Culinaire, and we worked out a deal," said Mr. Lampman. "They cooked a combination of Christmas and Fourth of July food."

The event went off as planned for 20 servicemembers and their families.

"From the event the most rewarding part came from a servicemember who was on two weeks of leave from Iraq who was able to celebrate his daughter's birthday and Easter while he was home."

Dawn Waller, University of Illinois Extension Office, who nominated Mr. Lampman for Illinoisan of the Year, said, "Eric is an extremely dedicated volunteer. He was the backbone of the Holiday Walk and since then he has taken on the responsibility of being the volunteer leader for SOMK. I can count on him for pretty much anything."

As part of being one of the Illinoisans of the year, Mr. Lampman will be recognized as Illinoisan of the Day at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield Aug. 15. He will be entitled to prizes and VIP parking, gate admission, hotel accommodations and Grandstand show tickets. He will also serve as grand marshal of the daily parade.

"Twenty-nine years ago my wife and I started going out at the State Fair in Wyoming, and we did the typical things teenagers do," said Mr. Lampman. "Now it will be interesting for us to go to a state fair as adults with our children and be pampered."

Mr. Lampman will also use his time at the state fair to find every opportunity to sell cookbooks that will serve as the primary source of funds for the upcoming Holiday Walk planned for Sept. 26 at a location to be determined. The book contains 350 recipes from local 4-H and military members.

"I don't know what to expect, but I feel like it is going to be a nice day," he said.

Mr. Lampman, who is currently a stay-at-home father for Cyrie, 14, and Nicholas, 7, has prior experience in working with children who were missing or homeless. Now he works to prevent children from getting to that point through 4-H and SOMK. He also represents the military in the Madison-St. Clair University of Illinois Extension Council. He is also a 4-H alumnus.

"I like to get different groups to work together," said Mr. Lampman.