Fort Bliss Monitor

1-7 Boss lends helping hand

Spc. Jason Stadel
108th ADA Bde. Public Affairs

Spc. Jason Stadel

B Btry. 1-7 Soldiers, Pvt. Charleston Clark, right, and Spc. Nathanial Listo assist James Barkley with the one of the games last weekend at Biggs Park.

For Gloria Lopez, seeing more than 100 Soldiers wearing red “NO FEAR!” T-shirts was a welcomed sight that made her “fly high.”

Lopez works with the Ministry for Children with Disabilities at St. Pius Catholic Church; she and her organization were invited by the 1st Battalion, 7th Air Defense Artillery’s Better Opportunity for Single Servicemembers, to Biggs Park Saturday where 1-7 volunteers played games, ate lunch, and demonstrated different parts of Army life to the children. “We’ve never had anything like this before,” Lopez said. “It’s overwhelming to have this many volunteers.”

The ministry and BOSS partnership was basically a day for the children and Soldiers to have fun. “We wanted to show the community that we appreciate their support,” Sgt. Jessica Ridenour said.

Coordination for the event started about two months ago when the 1-7 BOSS contacted the Ministry for Children with Disabilities.

Ridenour is the one of the battalion’s BOSS representatives. When the battalion’s main representative was called away on emergency leave, Ridenour took charge of getting the event together. She said getting everything ready was a tough task, but she and the rest of the battalion pulled everything off without any major problems.

For Ridenour and her battery, B Btry. 1-7, volunteering is nothing new. “This just comes natural to us. While we were in [South] Korea we did a lot of volunteer work.”

Ridenour added events such as this are important for the El Paso community and Fort Bliss. “I feel it’s important for military people to see something they don’t see everyday. This shows us what we are fighting for.”

Interfaith Care Partners trained the volunteers on how to react to seizures and how to communicate non-verbally with the children. “We needed to give [the volunteers] the basics, because sometimes people are afraid of our kids. They were taught what to do in case one of the kids had a seizure, and the basics of signing so they could communicate with the non-verbal kids,” said Lopez.

Most of the Soldiers that volunteered were more than happy to help out. “As Soldiers, we’re supposed to give an example. It’s worth it to spend a day off like this,” said Diana Chachon-Moreno, HHB, 1-7.

Pfc. K’sondra Gourley, D Btry. 1-7, felt the same, “It’s good to give back to the community. This is fun for us and [the kids].”

The battalion’s leadership was also supportive of the event. Command Sgt. Maj. James Carr praised the work of BOSS and the volunteers. “This turned out great. [BOSS] did everything for this, they came out here on their own time and did an outstanding job.”

This is the first time the BOSS program has done anything similar to this in recent memory. Ridenour, Lopez, and Carr hope to continue the partnership between 1-7 and the Ministry for Children with Disabilities. “Hopefully this is just the first step, we can make this grow,” said Lopez.



www.bliss.army.mil	Published for the Fort Bliss/El Paso, Texas Community	August 18, 2005

<map name="boxmap-b4"> <area shape="rect" coords="0, 589, 120, 600" href="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm/privacy-policy.html?o=1" > <area coords="0,0,10000,10000" href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=&creative=92501&camp=8117&link_code=dl1&path=subst/misc/amazon-cobrand-cc/v3/marketing-from-associates-step1.html/ref%3Db1_assoc_29" > </map>	1-7 Boss lends helping hand Spc. Jason Stadel 108th ADA Bde. Public Affairs Spc. Jason Stadel B Btry. 1-7 Soldiers, Pvt. Charleston Clark, right, and Spc. Nathanial Listo assist James Barkley with the one of the games last weekend at Biggs Park. For Gloria Lopez, seeing more than 100 Soldiers wearing red “NO FEAR!” T-shirts was a welcomed sight that made her “fly high.” Lopez works with the Ministry for Children with Disabilities at St. Pius Catholic Church; she and her organization were invited by the 1st Battalion, 7th Air Defense Artillery’s Better Opportunity for Single Servicemembers, to Biggs Park Saturday where 1-7 volunteers played games, ate lunch, and demonstrated different parts of Army life to the children. “We’ve never had anything like this before,” Lopez said. “It’s overwhelming to have this many volunteers.” The ministry and BOSS partnership was basically a day for the children and Soldiers to have fun. “We wanted to show the community that we appreciate their support,” Sgt. Jessica Ridenour said. Coordination for the event started about two months ago when the 1-7 BOSS contacted the Ministry for Children with Disabilities. Ridenour is the one of the battalion’s BOSS representatives. When the battalion’s main representative was called away on emergency leave, Ridenour took charge of getting the event together. She said getting everything ready was a tough task, but she and the rest of the battalion pulled everything off without any major problems. For Ridenour and her battery, B Btry. 1-7, volunteering is nothing new. “This just comes natural to us. While we were in [South] Korea we did a lot of volunteer work.” Ridenour added events such as this are important for the El Paso community and Fort Bliss. “I feel it’s important for military people to see something they don’t see everyday. This shows us what we are fighting for.” Interfaith Care Partners trained the volunteers on how to react to seizures and how to communicate non-verbally with the children. “We needed to give [the volunteers] the basics, because sometimes people are afraid of our kids. They were taught what to do in case one of the kids had a seizure, and the basics of signing so they could communicate with the non-verbal kids,” said Lopez. Most of the Soldiers that volunteered were more than happy to help out. “As Soldiers, we’re supposed to give an example. It’s worth it to spend a day off like this,” said Diana Chachon-Moreno, HHB, 1-7. Pfc. K’sondra Gourley, D Btry. 1-7, felt the same, “It’s good to give back to the community. This is fun for us and [the kids].” The battalion’s leadership was also supportive of the event. Command Sgt. Maj. James Carr praised the work of BOSS and the volunteers. “This turned out great. [BOSS] did everything for this, they came out here on their own time and did an outstanding job.” This is the first time the BOSS program has done anything similar to this in recent memory. Ridenour, Lopez, and Carr hope to continue the partnership between 1-7 and the Ministry for Children with Disabilities. “Hopefully this is just the first step, we can make this grow,” said Lopez.