 News
You Can Use
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FREE Backpacks and back to school supplies for military families E-6 and below. Backpacks will be distributed Sept 11, 2010. Contact AFRC to register and for more info at 413-557-3024.
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Videoconferencing for deployed families is now available! Airman & Family Readiness and the Wing
Conference Center are offering an opportunity for deployed service members
to arrange a video teleconference with their family members. To take advantage of this program, please complete the attached form and forward it
to Andrea Bowen at Airman & Family Readiness (andrea.bowen@westover.af.mil). We will then coordinate with the Conference
Center to schedule a videoconference. This will ensure that all information is accurately obtained and
tracked for success of this program.
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On Sept 11 & 12, the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Westfield is opening its doors for FREE to children ages 5 to 18 of any military personnel. See the flyer for details.
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NMFA is sponsoring free, 4-day family retreats created to help families
reconnect after deployment. Operation Purple® Family Retreats
are designed to bring families together for 4 days in a national
park setting. With an emphasis on environmental education, military
families will participate in fun, family-focused activities that
will allow them strengthen and renew relationships while exploring
natural surroundings. Applications are currently being accepted for
all of the retreats. Interested families should visit http://www.militaryfamily.org/our-programs/operation-purple/family-retreats/ for
further information or to apply. Additional retreats are scheduled
throughout the year.
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FREE Family Memberships for families of deployed Reservists at participating
YMCAs and 16 hours of FREE respite care for children 12 and under.
For details
and
more
information
view the Military
One Source YMCA Program.
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Area veterans may be eligible for training in the green jobs industry
as part of a grant from the federal Department of Labor. For more information,
veterans should visit www.mass.gov/veterans or www.greenjobs4vets.us or call GreenJobs4Vets at 781-330-9289 or 978-476-9144.
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Department of Defense has agreed to provide retroactive
special pay to service members whose contracts were extended due to
stop loss during the last eight years. Service members, including members
of the Reserve components, and former and retired members, are eligible
if they served on active duty between September 11, 2001, and September
30, 2009, while their enlistment was extended or retirement suspended.
Eligible members will receive a payment of $500 for each month, or
any portion of a month, they were retained on active duty due to stop
loss.
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Service members have until October 21, 2010, to file a claim for
the special pay. Survivors of service members killed in combat or
who died after their service can also make claims. Contact your branch
of service for information: Army, Air
Force, Marine
Corps. For Navy, send an email to: NXAG_N132C@navy.mil.
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President Obama announced the creation of a new Veterans
Employment Initiative that will make the federal government a "model employer of America's
veterans." The program, created by executive order, will open
new offices in each federal
department that will focus on recruiting and hiring veterans. Click
for more info.
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Military families now have free access to an online network of
quality caregivers who can assist with everything from babysitting
to dog walking. Sittercity is the nation's largest online source
for local babysitters, nannies, elder care providers, dog walkers,
housekeepers
and tutors,
and contains more than a million caregiver profiles, officials
said. Military members and their families can activate their membership
by going to http://www.sittercity.com/dod.
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Tudor.com
is now available to Air Force families at no charge! Air
Force members and their dependents around the world can work
with a certified, professional tutor online 24/7 to get help with homework,
essay writing, studying, test prep (SAT, CLEP, AP, etc.), resume writing,
and more.
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Anheuser-Busch Theme Parks are proud to salute the
men and women of our armed forces and their families. Throughout
2010,
members
of
the
military
and as
many as three direct dependents may enter SeaWorld, Busch Gardens
or Sesame Place parks with a single-day complimentary admission. Check
out Hero
Salute or Westover
Services for more details.
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Through a major education initiative, eKnowledge, NFL Players, & Department
of Defense are providing FREE SAT/ACT test preparation assistance
to all active duty and retired military and their dependents nationwide.
This initiative has already donated and shipped over $16,000,000
of SAT/ACT programs to more than 80,000 U.S. Military and their dependents.
Get an Information
Flyer.
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Our Military Kids, Inc. is offering a $500 grant for tutoring
or lessons to children of deployed Air Force Reservists and Air
National
Guardsmen. The service member must be deployed overseas for at least
120 days OR is on one of two missions overseas totaling 180 days
in a one year period AND there must be at least 30 days remaining
on orders
AND the child must start the activity before the service member returns
home.
Children must be between the ages of 3 and 12th grade. The grant will cover up
to six months of future instruction, lessons, or tutoring for one
activity/program. For more information contact the Airman & Family
Readiness Center at 413-557-3024 or call 703-734-6654 or 866-691-6654.
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The Military Spouse Internship Program is a DoD
initiative "designed
to acquaint Federal Agencies with the skills and talents
military spouses possess, by providing first year salary, benefits
and training costs for eligible military spouses hired into
permanent Federal positions with career advancement. The
program
is authorized under Public Law 111-84."
For more information regarding the Military Spouse
Intern Program, visit the DoD's CPMS
website.
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Free admission to hundreds of museums across the US for active duty military members and their families, thanks to a
partnership between the National Endowment for the Arts and Blue Star
Families. Visit http://www.arts.gov/national/bluestarmuseums/index.php for more information. This includes several local area museums, such as the Children's Museum at Holyoke, the Harriot Beecher Stowe Center and Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, the EcoTarium in Worcester, and the Boston Children's Museum, to name a few. Check the map of participating museums to find one near you. This offer is good from Memorial Day to Labor Day. The free admission program is available to any bearer of a Geneva Convention Common Access Card, a DD Form 1173, or a DD Form 1173-1, which includes active duty military, Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, National Guard, and Reserve, and five immediate family members.
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