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Family Readiness Group always ready to help
In recent years many soldiers have dropped their stateside lives to head overseas to serve their country. They leave behind family and friends to go fight.
One group helps those that have to stay behind and wait for their loved one to return, this group is the Family Readiness Group (FRG) at the Greencastle Armory.
The FRG in Greencastle started when one little girl, Kendra Farmer, wanted to help out. She brought in a friend and it went from there.
Pamela Coons, the director of the FRG, takes the lead of a group that helps take care of soldiers and their families when deployed or stateside. Coons and her group of nine volunteers organize events for soldiers and their families throughout the year to help improve the morale of everyone connected to the unit.
"We have family days for the unit and other events," Coons said. "Our big event is our Christmas party."
The FRG and the armory hosted one of these family days on Saturday. The day celebrated the return of soldiers from a two-week training session at Fort Knox and the retirement of one of their fellow soldiers.
"These events help families understand what the soldiers do," Coons said.
Coons and the FRG's special events coordinator Tammy Cox explained that the FRG not only holds big gatherings to help these families, but also take the time to help those who can't make it to events for family.
"One of the soldiers had a nephew in the hospital for surgery on Christmas. We brought Santa to the hospital with four gifts for the boy," Cox explained.
"The boy had an older brother that we didn't know about and had no gifts for, so Santa made a second trip to the hospital the next day with gifts for him."
Coons explained that the FRG is there for soldiers during all major events in the family's life. Recently the group helped two families when they lost children.
With people like Cox, Coons and their group of volunteers the FRG has been there to help people in their battalion that have become family to them.
"It's one big family," Coons said. "Can't really explain the extent the relationships go."
Two new recruits to the group, Sandra Foster and Angela Freeman, did not even know that the organization existed until they recently participated in one of the fundraising events.
"I got involved because of my grandson," Foster said. "I think it's a wonderful group."
Cox and Coons explained in a recent interview with the Banner Graphic that everything that the FRG provides for the soldiers and families comes from fundraising the group does and from donations from the community and local businesses.
"We are not a 501c (a non-profit organization)," Coons noted. "We have no funding from the state. When people give to the National Guard, it doesn't go to the local armory."
Even with the hurdle of little funding, the women and men of the organization still find a way to provide food, fun activities and help out when they can.
The soldiers are grateful for what the FRG does for the battalion and even try to help in their own way. On Saturday one soldier pulled $3 from his pocket and handed it to Cox, stating, "It's not much, but it's what I have."
To find more information about the Family Readiness Group in Greencastle, interested persons may contact Pamela Coons at pjcoons45@yahoo.com or Tammy Cox at tscox42056@yahoo.com.