From the Director
|
 Dear Guard Support friend,
Welcome to the
Guard Support News
email update. We are reaching out in this new way to keep you informed
about our core mission - helping families in the Massachusetts National Guard
and to share other news and developments on a monthly basis.
Since our inception in August of 2007, Guard Support of Massachusetts has made a dramatic impact on helping Guardsmen and their families.
To date we've helped approximately two hundred Guard families with financial
assistance and provided 42 unit Family Readiness Groups with grant funding. Our
grant disbursements have gone towards a variety of needs, ranging from the cost
of flights home from mobilization to mortgage and rent payment assistance, to
funding children's events offered through Family Readiness Groups at Guard units
throughout the Commonwealth.Guard Support is proud to have supported our
citizen-soldiers with small expressions of our thanks for
their sacrifices.
And we're grateful to our donors, volunteers and other
supporters who have helped us keep these families strong. We encourage you to forward this email on to people that you think may be
interested in Guard Support (click the Forward email link at the bottom of this
email). If you wish to be removed from our
distribution list, please use the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the
email.
We hope you enjoy our first issue of Guard Support News.
Stay tuned next month for our Entrepreneurs' Funding Program launch announcement.
Sincerely, Sherry Handel
Executive Director
Guard Support of Massachusetts
shandel@guardsupport.orgshdel@guardsupport.org
|
|
Our Mission:
Update on Family Readiness Group Grants
|
|
Grants Aid Families of Deployed Soldiers
|
Tina and John Scobie pictured with their son at the 104th Fighter Wing holiday party in 2009. Guard Support provided funding for their unit's Family Readiness Group  | On May 19th, Guard Support
awarded four Family Readiness Grants to National Guard units from Brockton,
Dorchester, Milford and Pittsfield. The grants will aid each unit's Family
Readiness Group, a support network for families of the deployed Massachusetts
National Guard troops.
In this latest round of funding, the HHB 1/101st
FA Unit in Brockton received $500, the 164th Transportation Company in
Dorchester received a $1,000 grant, the JFHQ Forward LRCAG in Milford received
$500 and the 379th Engineers Detachment 1 in Pittsfield received $500. The
grants are based, in part, on the deployment status of the Guard unit. Since
Guard Support's inception in 2007, it has awarded 42 Family Readiness Group
Grants totaling $43,000.
Family Readiness Groups are support networks for
families of deployed National Guard soldiers and airmen, and they often use the
grant funds to hold send-off and homecoming ceremonies, support group meetings,
educational programs and special events for children.
"The value of a
Family Readiness Group cannot be over-emphasized. Knowing that there is such a
strong support system in place to care for the myriad of concerns that our
family members have allows my unit to concentrate fully on their mission. The
FRG is as integral a part of our force as the soldiers themselves. We're blessed
to have such support," said 1st Lieutenant Stacey Williams-Beaton, Detachment
Commander for the 164th Transportation Battalion. |
|
SBA Recognizes Guard Support's founder, Nate Dalton as the Mass. Veterans Small Business Champion Award Recipient
|
 Guard Support's founder, Nate Dalton will be receiving the Massachusetts
Veterans Small Business Champion Award at the SBA 2010
Small Business Awards Breakfast to be held on June 8, 2010 at the DCU Center in Worcester, Mass.
|
