$1000 presentation to A&FRC

FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. -- Col. Roger Watkins, 92nd Air Refueling Wing vice commander, accepts on behalf of the wing and Airman and Family Readiness Center a $1,000 check from Martha Lu Butler, a resident of Waterford on South Hill and originator of the campaign, as Mary Johnson, the sales and marketing director at Waterford, observes. The donation will go into the Friends of Family Support account, which will support communications between deployed members of Team Fairchild and their families. (U.S. Air Force photo/Airman 1st Class Kali L. Gradishar)

Local retirement community raises $1000 for AFRC fund

Published April 24, 2007
By Airman 1st Class Kali L. Gradishar
92nd ARW Public Affairs Office

FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. -- As small group of residents representing more than 200 people residing at Waterford on South Hill, a retirement community in Spokane, presented a $1000 check to the Friends of Family Support in the Airman and Family Readiness Center at 2 p.m. April 23.
Col. Roger Watkins, 92nd Air Refueling Wing vice commander, accepted the check on behalf of the wing and the AFRC. Maj. David Stenglein, 92nd Mission Support Squadron commander, and other spectators were also present for the receiving of the donation.

Friends of Family Support is the name of an account at the center from which funds are used for various programs on base. The funds support Airmen and their families in numerous ways.

Specifically, this donation will go towards enhancing communication between the men and women serving in Iraq and their families.

"Anything we can do to boost the morale of families missing one another is a good thing," said Martha Lu Butler, a resident of Waterford and the initiator of the campaign.

This is the second year that Ms. Butler has headed this effort to support Team Fairchild's deployed members. Her idea was earnestly adopted by other residents, as many of them understand what the Airmen's families are going through.

"All the people living at the Waterford have experienced war in one way or another and we were excited to do something to help our men and women in Iraq," said Ms. Butler.

Accompanying Ms. Butler was Beverly Kilpatrick and Ann Waldron, also residents of the Waterford, as well as Mary Johnson, Waterford sales and marketing director, and Betty Doerschlag, life enrichment director.

After presenting the check, the women from Waterford received a tour of the AFRC to see how donations to the center are put to use.