Fort Bliss Monitor

Army Community Service marks 40th anniversary

Spc. Steve Baack
Monitor Staff

Staff members and guests at Fort Bliss Army Community Service celebrated the 40th anniversary of the ACS’ Army-wide inception Monday.

Those in attendance were treated to snacks, drinks and cake, while newer members of the staff donned original ACS volunteer attire. Numerous photos, awards and articles were displayed – focusing on the founder of ACS.

In 1963, Lt. Col. Emma Marie Baird was assigned to the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel to create an Army-wide community social service program to address the ever-increasing needs of military families and servicemembers.

Two years later – July 25, 1965 to be exact – Army Chief of Staff Gen. Harold K. Johnson announced the inception of Army Community Service, based on the New York City World War II Army Emergency Relief Office, of which Baird had a substantial working knowledge. Regulations were put in place that year to establish ACS Army-wide.

“Army Community Service started 40 years ago, and its only program was the lending closet,” said Peggy Brown, director of Fort Bliss’ ACS. “That assisted families and servicemembers who were being sent to Vietnam. They didn’t have a lot of household goods with them when they went from installation to installation. A group of volunteers got together and started saying to other spouses, ‘if you have an extra iron, let us have it; if you have an extra vacuum cleaner, let us have it,’ – and that’s how the lending closet started. And since then we have grown to over 10 major programs with many small programs within those services that meet the needs of our military families and Soldiers.”

Throughout the years after its launch, ACS has grown to meet the needs of Army installations and has evolved to employ both paid staff and volunteers.

“Different programs have come into inception over the years, such as the Relocation Readiness, Family Advocacy in the early 80s, Exceptional Family Member Program in the 80s, Army Family Team Building 10 years ago, and over the past 14 or 15 years, a lot of our focus has been on deployment and mobilization and making sure that families and servicemembers are prepared, to the best of their ability, to cope with long separations,” said Brown.

Although ACS started as an all-volunteer organization, as an increasing number of spouses looked for work, and as needs within ACS also increased, it became necessary to fund programs to have paid staff on board, Brown said.

“But even over the years, we have always had a very strong volunteer corps,” continued Brown. “And I don’t think there’s any Army Community Service Army-wide that could function to the level it functions without volunteers. That’s why we’re still very, very committed to volunteers and volunteerism.”

One of those Fort Bliss volunteers was Baird. In addition to earning awards and medals during her career, she received numerous awards and honors from political and women’s groups when she volunteered here after her retirement.

Today, the numbers of client contacts at Fort Bliss ACS are “astronomical,” Brown said. As a rough figure, she estimates that for this year so far, the post’s ACS has helped about 20,000 people. About 6,000 of those seek help with AER and financial readiness.

As increasing numbers of troops move in, the ACS has a tougher job ahead. Programs are expanding and improving all of the time to meet the need, according to Lori Rosario, financial readiness educator. “We can feel the influx of Soldiers, which is fun and scary at the same time.”



www.bliss.army.mil	Published for the Fort Bliss/El Paso, Texas Community	June 28, 2005

	Army Community Service marks 40th anniversary Spc. Steve Baack Monitor Staff Staff members and guests at Fort Bliss Army Community Service celebrated the 40th anniversary of the ACS’ Army-wide inception Monday. Those in attendance were treated to snacks, drinks and cake, while newer members of the staff donned original ACS volunteer attire. Numerous photos, awards and articles were displayed – focusing on the founder of ACS. In 1963, Lt. Col. Emma Marie Baird was assigned to the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel to create an Army-wide community social service program to address the ever-increasing needs of military families and servicemembers. Two years later – July 25, 1965 to be exact – Army Chief of Staff Gen. Harold K. Johnson announced the inception of Army Community Service, based on the New York City World War II Army Emergency Relief Office, of which Baird had a substantial working knowledge. Regulations were put in place that year to establish ACS Army-wide. “Army Community Service started 40 years ago, and its only program was the lending closet,” said Peggy Brown, director of Fort Bliss’ ACS. “That assisted families and servicemembers who were being sent to Vietnam. They didn’t have a lot of household goods with them when they went from installation to installation. A group of volunteers got together and started saying to other spouses, ‘if you have an extra iron, let us have it; if you have an extra vacuum cleaner, let us have it,’ – and that’s how the lending closet started. And since then we have grown to over 10 major programs with many small programs within those services that meet the needs of our military families and Soldiers.” Throughout the years after its launch, ACS has grown to meet the needs of Army installations and has evolved to employ both paid staff and volunteers. “Different programs have come into inception over the years, such as the Relocation Readiness, Family Advocacy in the early 80s, Exceptional Family Member Program in the 80s, Army Family Team Building 10 years ago, and over the past 14 or 15 years, a lot of our focus has been on deployment and mobilization and making sure that families and servicemembers are prepared, to the best of their ability, to cope with long separations,” said Brown. Although ACS started as an all-volunteer organization, as an increasing number of spouses looked for work, and as needs within ACS also increased, it became necessary to fund programs to have paid staff on board, Brown said. “But even over the years, we have always had a very strong volunteer corps,” continued Brown. “And I don’t think there’s any Army Community Service Army-wide that could function to the level it functions without volunteers. That’s why we’re still very, very committed to volunteers and volunteerism.” One of those Fort Bliss volunteers was Baird. In addition to earning awards and medals during her career, she received numerous awards and honors from political and women’s groups when she volunteered here after her retirement. Today, the numbers of client contacts at Fort Bliss ACS are “astronomical,” Brown said. As a rough figure, she estimates that for this year so far, the post’s ACS has helped about 20,000 people. About 6,000 of those seek help with AER and financial readiness. As increasing numbers of troops move in, the ACS has a tougher job ahead. Programs are expanding and improving all of the time to meet the need, according to Lori Rosario, financial readiness educator. “We can feel the influx of Soldiers, which is fun and scary at the same time.”