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Cara Loken
2016 Armed Forces Insurance National Guard Spouse of the Year
402.467.1102 or 800.998.2519
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Meet the Nominees
Youth Nominees
Meet Rachel Mild!
I am nominating Rachael Anne Mild, age 17, for the 2019 Youth Volunteer of the Year. She is a senior at Pius X High School in Lincoln, NE and has been accepted at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Colorado State University in Fort Collins. Her college focus will be Journalism and Media Communications.
Rachael has been very involved in the Lincoln-based Christian Youth Organization “God-teens” since her freshman year in High School. The God-teens program focuses on age-appropriate issues faced by teenagers today, enabling them to learn and share with peers and young adults from the community. Rachael has enjoyed the comradery but also the ability to stretch her faith by debating current political issues and how Catholicism is adjusting (or struggling to adjust) to the modern world.
Rachael is very involved in volunteerism through her faith as well. She volunteers at The Matt Talbott Kitchen and Outreach at least twice per year, donating funds and serving meals. (By-the-way: Rachael does not expect her parents to provide funds when raising money: while she generally asks her parents for support, she often chips in her own money as well). She participated this year in a door-to-door food drive to benefit The Lincoln Food Bank, helping Lincoln families in need. She participated in the Walk for Life at the State Capitol as well as adopting a family at Christmas. She has volunteered to help her grade school raise funds by donating her time and treats for their annual Trunk or Treat and Spring Fling, a fund raiser for low income students. She is a member of the St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Denton and “happily” cleans the church with her mom one month per year.
One of Rachael’s passions is Show choir and Musicals. As a four-year choir member, Rachael volunteers her time for several fund raisers each year, including the Stardust Dinner Theater and Madrigal Dinner, both raising funds to keep the school choir programs affordable for all students. As part of this group she has enjoyed Caroling at Christmastime and singing for patients at St. Elizabeth hospital in Lincoln.
For her senior volunteer hours this year she volunteered as a youth counselor at a Nebraska summer camp for youth ages 10-12. During this camp, Rachael assisted in helping youths with outdoor camp activities as well as demonstrating herself as positive role model for them. Her “free labor” helped the administrators to keep the camp costs affordable for all kids. While the camp was an enjoyable experience, I recall her telling me the most difficult part was “no phone for two days and two nights!”
Rachael has been a member of The National Honor Society for three years, holding a 3.89 Grade Point Average. She has stretched herself this year with Advanced Placement (AP) Calculus and AP Literature as well as classes in Government, Psychology, French, Textiles & Design, Drawing and Theology. In her spare time, she works at The Landing, an Assisted Living and Memory Care facility in Lincoln, babysits and works at the Denton Fireworks Stand in the summer.
Rachael, along with her dad and sister have handled the home front while her mom has deployed numerous times, not to mention TDYs and drill weekends. They have never known anything different, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy.
Rachael is a typical teenager who loves to hang out with her friends and loves good music ranging from Post Malone to Frank Sinatra. She enjoys drawing, writing and playing with her dog, Wanda. But most of all, Rachael is a kind-hearted young lady with a passion for others.
Meet Autumn Veen!
Autumn Veen was an instrumental leader and proponent in sending more than 35 care packages to deployed members of the 155th Air Refueling Wing (ARW) Nebraska Air National Guard over the holiday season. She worked more than 5 hours to coordinate the efforts of friends, families, and acquaintances in the collection of non-perishable items and furthermore helped organize the packaging of the received items into the appropriate shipping containers. Additionally, she assisted with the transport and delivery of the care packages to the 155th ARW for storage and when able to transfer the packages to the appropriate ground courier, she again assisted with their delivery to the courier for overseas transport.
Additionally over the 2018 holiday season, Autumn volunteered over 15 hours of her time in assistance to a very successful annual Angel Tree campaign that provided charitable giving’s to over 26 people in the 155th ARW family. Because of her efforts in sharing news of the campaign in her local community she raised over $100 to assist with the purchasing of items for those in need. When applicable, she followed up with donors’ wishes to use the monetary donation to purchase items designated on the ornaments that corresponded to the needs of the family or person listed. She volunteered +5 hours to shop for Angel Tree recipients, and helped gift wrap or bag the purchased items.
Autumn was also responsible for arranging over 10 different activities to entertain and occupy more than 15 children at the Civil Engineer Squadron (CES), 6th Annual Holiday Potluck. Her efforts allowed at least 6 families to be able to comfortably attend the event without having to concern themselves with finding alternative arrangements for their children. As such these members and their significant others were able to join in the festivities of the season and build upon relationships within the CES family.
Furthermore, prior to the 2018 October and December drill periods Autumn devoted >5 hours of time towards the collection of 40 different pieces of literature, storybooks and other toolsets for 155th CES members scheduled to deploy soon thereafter. She helped deliver and organize the materials she put on display. Her time and efforts helped foster familial communication, as well as assist with readying squadron members and their families for growth in the face of adversity.
Autumn has volunteered with Matt Talbot's kitchen by picking up meals at Sam's and she has helped deliver them. She has also help serve meals and is more than happy o help with clean-up after.
Meet Maggie Buettner!
I would like to nominate Maggie Buettner for the Nebraska National Guard Youth Volunteer of the Year Award. Maggie Buettner is an active member of the Nebraska National Guard Teen Council. Maggie has served on the Teen Council for 5 years. Her roles have included Secretary and Vice President. Over the course of the years Maggie has volunteered 250 hours. She readily agrees to volunteer for family military events. She has volunteered her time at our family Easter egg hunt, Halloween events and Christmas parties. As well as in the community representing our military families. She also attends annual Teen Symposiums to gather with other military teens to better our Teen Council.
Maggie’s father has been on several deployments and she is an experienced military child. She is experienced in the various aspects of being a military family and goes above and beyond to assist other military children. Maggie has an amazing heart for serving the military community and an abundance of experience to share. She has spoken at our Military Kids Ball to share her experiences with younger children and encourage them in their journey.
Outside of her military volunteer experience Maggie serves on her school’s Student council and is an honor roll student. She is an excellent role model as a student athlete as well. Maggie plays for the Southeast softball team and has excellent sportsmanship. She plays also plays Cello for Varsity orchestra. She participates in Southeast pals where she volunteers time with special needs kids. She was elected to serve on the Parent Teacher Student Organization and holds one of the two spots available.
Maggie is not shy about hard work or displaying strong work ethic. She balances several activities all while maintaining honor role. She is the first to volunteer for our upcoming events to serve military families and works hard to ensure the best events. Her positive attitude and wiliness make her our best volunteer. I gladly nominate Maggie Buettner for the Nebraska National Guard Youth Volunteer of the Year Award.
Adult Nominees
Meet Torrie Schieffer!
It with great pleasure that I nominate Mrs. Torrie Schieffer for consideration 2019 Nebraska National Guard Volunteer of the Year in recognition of her outstanding leadership and continued effort in preventing veteran homelessness and hunger.
This number speaks for itself: zero. According to the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) the city of Lincoln, NE has been deemed that there is zero homeless veterans as of October 4, 2018. Torrie has been working tirelessly since December of 2017 and has focused on spearheading the food pantry night.
Torrie strives to get the right amount of food to the veterans that need it the most. She also makes sure that there is adequate food for every food pantry night. There is 70 rooms she accounts for and provides food for. She hasn’t missed a food pantry night minus the day our son was born and even then she still called to ensure everything was running smoothly.
Sherri who operates heroes into homes has said this about Torrie “She maintained her commitment to these veterans at Victory Park as her husband was thousands of miles away serving his country. Never did she miss a beat.
She may not wear a uniform and combat boots but she lovingly and diligently serves her country.Thank you Torrie just isn't enough to say how appreciated and valued she is!”
Meet Leah Bethune!
I am nominating Leah M. Bethune as Adult Military Dependent Volunteer of the Year. Leah is married to Master Sergeant Nicholas Bethune, a maintenance crew chief on the KC-135 Refueling aircraft.
Leah has been served in the education field for many years first serving as a Before & After School Care Program Teacher at Mildenhall Air Force Base Youth Center in Mildenhall, England. When she and her husband settled in Lincoln, NE she began teaching and has served the Lincoln community as an English teacher, principal and High School teacher for the last 13 years. She currently teaches English at Lincoln North Star High School, grades 9-12.
In her professional capacity, Leah voluntarily takes every opportunity to better the lives of those around her. She serves as a PBIS (Positive Behavior Intervention System) mentor meeting with 5 additional students every school day. This mentorship allows the students to develop a positive relationship with her as well as other teachers and the school counselors. She encourages them to get their homework done and ensures they are not struggling with other issues throughout the day.
Last year Leah was selected and currently serves as a Learning Center teacher. This is a class for students who are struggling in school. This class is primarily designed to give students a chance to improve their grades. She works with them to complete missing work and retake quizzes and test to ensure they are on track to graduate.
Leah was also selected to attend training and serves as a Kagan teacher. The Kagan program teaches a cooperative learning strategy to increase student engagement and interaction during a lesson. The program is time-intensive with each student put into groups of four, teaching them to work together as a team, making the students responsible for their learning.
Leah serves on the Instructional Strategies Committee for North Star High School. This is a leadership committee in the school where she meets once a month to come up with ways to increase instructional strategies that help teachers to become better teachers. The team focuses on growing teachers and giving them the tools to increase their performance and increase learning and engagement.
Leah also helps to write “504 plans” for students in her school. This plan is designed for students who need a little extra support but don’t technically qualify for “Special Education”. Typical accommodations she has been able to obtain are extended time on tests and homework, preferential seating assignments and printed notes.
Leah has implemented several programs as well: Safe Environment training is a lesson plan to help teachers look for and report neglect and/or abuse when working with children. In addition, she initiated and leads the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program and Teammates program at North Star.
Leah has received ESL (English as a Second Language) and Family Interaction training. This enabled her to work in her parochial school to ensure students were tested by a Lincoln Public Schools liaison and followed through to ensure students and families understood the program intent of the program and how these students and families could benefit. Currently approximately 30% of her students are considered ESL. Her expertise in this area allows her to effectively interact with translators, students and parents.
Last but not least, one of Leah’s passions is helping the military community! She has twice completed a very comprehensive Key Spouse training which allows her to serve as a liaison between commanders, military members and family members.
Drawing on her educational background, Leah took the initiative to work the Child and Youth Program coordinator to develop and distribute documentation for schools while a parent is deployed. The documentation includes tips and tricks to the school and parents about how to balance school and home during deployments.
In addition to routinely helping with “Welcome to Maintenance” events, Leah has created a Facebook page for new members of the National Guard and their families as well as a separate page for the spouses of Aircraft Maintenance Members who deploy often. This allows her and other spouses to keep in touch and regularly check in with each other.
Leah and her children, Will and Shelby have supported Nic through four overseas deployments as well as countless TDY’s and drill weekends. Her selfless serve to others make her an excellent candidate for this award.
Meet Hayle Bockelman!
Ms. Hayle Dawn Bockelman has been the Family Readiness Group Leader for A CO 1-376th AVN since 2013 to present. Ms. Bockelman has been instrumental in the planning and execution of Family Lead unit events. She has been an extraordinarily dedicated volunteer, spending several hours a month to bridging the gap between military life and their families.
Ms. Bockelman leads and prepares a monthly breakfast for the troops and their families of A CO 1-376th on Sunday morning prior to first formation. Carrying out a small gesture month after month has been much appreciated, and she has turned it into one of our beloved traditions that we now have. Ms. Bockelman has also turned our annual IWQ in Hastings into our Annual BBQ; where we get to avoid eating one less MRE in our military career and take a moment to relax in one of our longest mission days of the year.
Ms. Bockelman has also assisted and sometimes has to lead our Unit apparel such as Hat, Tee-shirts, and even our pint cups; yes aviation requires you to own and travel with a pint cup! Her initiate has allowed the Soldiers to be able to focus on their military task while she was able to unite the Soldiers with their families and friends through our aviation swag.
Most importantly Ms. Bockelman has been available for the families of our unit when our unit has been called to assist in our Missions across the US, Germany, Canada, and Kosovo. She supported the families by keeping them informed, maintaining our proud Facebook page, and sending packages to the unit when needed. Her overwhelming support to insure not only the Soldiers are taken care of but also the families that are left behind. She has planned and executed multiple family days. Two where held at the Outdoor Education Center and one at a local park.
Ms. Hayle Dawn Bockelman from 2013 to 2018 has logged over 645 hours through Joint Services and Support. Ms. Bockelman’s dedication has been instrumental to the success and morale of A CO 1-376th AVN by bridging the gap between the military life and their families. Please consider Ms. Bockelman for the Nebraska National Guard Volunteer Award.
Meet Tom Reimers!
Tom Reimers was instrumental in the construction of over 45 flag cases, some already used in 2018 and the remaining for future use, to honor the service and commitment of the retirees of the 155th Air Refueling Wing, Nebraska Air National Guard. He has devoted over 200 hours of his time towards the construction of the cases at his home of residence. He’s cut, routered, pre-drilled and assembled over 500 feet of 5 inch x ¾ red oak into beautiful masterpieces to preserve the symbol of our nation. Additionally, Tom has made out of pocket purchases without reimbursement and procured the stain, fasteners, felt paper, sandpaper, brushes and adhesives necessary for finishing the cases. Finally, Tom has stained, varnished and finished each of the constructed flag cases and delivered the cases to the First Sergeant Council, and spoke to the group on future work. His craftsmanship has blessed the Wing, our Retiree’s and those who get to look onto the flag in recognition of the sacrifice of their friends, family and beloved Airman.
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