WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM SEPTEMBER 22-28, 2021 UCW 15
Military spouses empower community to be kind, Nov. 30
by EMILY SUSSMAN
Military Giving Tuesday is set for its
third year of observance on the Tues-
day after anksgiving, which falls on
Nov. 30. Its inception began in May of
2019 when three of the Armed Forces
Insurance Military Spouse of the Year
awardees came together with a shared
vision.
Jessica Manfre, 2019 Coast Guard
Spouse of the Year, Maria Reed, 2019
Army Spouse of the Year, and Saman-
tha Gomolka, 2019 National Guard
Spouse of the Year "wanted to create
something special that would unite
all the branches of service in a collec-
tive effort to serve with purpose and in
kindness." e #GivingTuesdayMilitary
movement was born.
In its inaugural year, 2019, the
campaign utilized hashtags to record
over 2.5 million acts of kindness. When
Stacy Bilodeau, 2018 Coast Guard
Spouse of the Year joined the team in
2020 the movement produced In-
spire Up, a 501c3 whose mission is to
"Inspire Up a kinder and more giving
world by uniting the military and civil-
ian communities through empower-
ment, education, community building
and a commitment to serve," according
to inspireupfoundation.org.
"It's not about money, it's about
kindness," explained Director of Com-
munity Engagement and Director of
GMT, Brittany Raines, who is a Fort
Drum military spouse.
Local Fort Bragg spouse Tawni
Dixon, a member of Fort Bragg's 2020
Family of the Year, connected to the
movement via Raines and with her
counterpart Shauna Johnson, together
as GMT Ambassadors they are bring-
ing the movement to Fort Bragg.
ey have created a Facebook group
(GivingMilitaryTuesday – Fort Bragg)
and they are spreading the word via
personal networks.
"We have a really amazing volunteer
pool here at Fort Bragg. I think Fort
Bragg just has a lot of rock-star-volun-
teers here and so once you talk about
it word just travels really fast," Dixon
said.
"We know that Fort Bragg is such a
family it has been easy to get the word
out." It's all about improving the com-
munity and bringing smiles to people's
faces.
"Our motto is dropping kindness all
over the center of the military universe.
It doesn't matter how, it can be so
simple," said Dixon
One example Dixon shared is when,
at her place of work, someone placed
googly eyes on a debit card payment
system and in a few other select places
and it made people smile.
"It doesn't have to be a grand gesture
we just want people to spread kind-
ness."
e group has several events
planned to further their cause. ey
will be supporting the Armed Services
YMCA's Operation Holiday Hooah to
give out gifts to military families in
need, and they will be participating in
a packing party and helping to distrib-
ute food at the ASYMCA Food Pantry
on Nov. 30 in observance of GMT.
If you are interested in participating
and want to get involved, the group can
be contacted at givingmilitarytuesday-
fortbragg@gmail.com.
It is open to anyone who wants to
volunteer, although events on post may
require a DOD ID or entry through All-
American Access Control Point.
"Giving Tuesday is not about being
grand… it's really just about being kind
in the world," said Dixon.
EVENTS
Stacy Bilodeau, Jessica Manfre, Samantha Gomolka and Maria Reed pose for a
promotionial picture for their Inspire Up non-profit. (Photo courtesy of GivingMilita-
ryTuesday.com)
EMILY SUSSMAN, Editor.
COMMENTS? editor@upandcom-
ingweekly.com. 910-484-6200.
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