Mainers praised for helping military families

BANGOR – As Maine servicemen and women were deployed in the war on terrorism, life continued on at home without them. Sometimes it was a struggle.

Senior Master Sgt. Chuck Lucas of the 101st Air Refueling Wing in Bangor knew firsthand how things could go wrong when a soldier wasn’t at home.

He was serving in Baghdad, Iraq, in March 2004 when at his Old Town home, hefty winds knocked down his part of his fence and tore off a quarter of his garage’s roof, he told about 100 people attending the Husson (College) Business Breakfast on Thursday.

Within two days, Lucas received the welcoming phone call that everything would be fine, thanks to help from the family assistance program at the Bangor base.

“They took care of it,” Lucas said, his few and simple words suggestive of how easy he found the help.

Guard officials credited Mainers – both individually and the many outreach organizations they developed.

“The support that the people of Maine have shown is overwhelming,” Brigadier Gen. John. W. Libby, adjutant general of the Maine National Guard, said, addressing the breakfast meeting.

Libby said the federal appropriations the Guard receives are augmented through the generosity of organizations such as Operation Community Support and many businesses that provide donations and family assistance.

During Thursday’s breakfast, Brewer Mayor Joseph Ferris presented Libby with a proclamation enacted by the Brewer City Council on Tuesday recognizing the work that the network of National Guard Assistance Centers has done as well as indicating the city’s continued support for the centers.

Acknowledging that there are many groups and individuals who have assisted military families and continue to do so, Libby did highlight the work done by Operation Community Support, a grass-roots organization with an expanding reach in the state.

The organization has sought to ease the difficulty of the families left behind and for returning soldiers by linking them up with recreational, athletic and entertainment programs.

“These [people] have made a difference in the lives of the families of the soldiers and airmen who have been deployed,” Libby said.