Family Support Center earns command award

  • Published
  • By 1st Lt. Marnee A.C. Losurdo
  • 512th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. --  The 512th Airlift Wing Family Support Center earned the Air Force Reserve Command Outstanding Family Support Center Award for 2006. 

Laura Coseglia, FSC director, attributes the center's success to her staff. 

"This was possible because of all their hard work, and they put their best foot forward," she said. "One person couldn't do it all." 

Some of the projects Ms. Coseglia said really stood out included the Key Family Member Volunteer Program, the distribution of "Hero Packs" to the children of 512th AW deployed unit members, and the Leadership Consultation Program. 

The Key Family Member Volunteer Program started in November 2005, and Ms. Coseglia said the FSC worked closely with Tanya Rutland, spouse of 512 AW Commander Col. Ronald A. Rutland, to develop the program. 

"The FSC is required to contact families of deployed Airmen every 45 days, and our families are distributed over 40 states; so, we have to rely on volunteers to augment the program," she said. "It's also part of an outreach program for those families who do not live in the local area, connecting families to needed resources within their communities." 

The volunteers let the families know where the closest base and family support center is located in case they need assistance, she said. 

The family support staff also distributed "Hero Packs," which are backpacks filled with communication tips and resources to help children through separation periods from their deployed parents. 

In addition to assisting families, the FSC worked closely with the units to educate reservists on family readiness through the Leadership Consultation Program, said Ms. Coseglia. This program was designed to target deployment times for unit members and to go to the units at strategic times prior to their deployments to deliver annual preparedness briefings, she said.