JBCMFR Provides Support to Community Gold Star Event
On April 2nd, 2022 Joint Base Charleston Military & Family Readiness helped support a community event held in St. George, South Carolina at the Fresh Spring Market headed by Mrs. Pamela Kelly, who is a Gold Star Family Member. She was event fundraising to bring awareness to Gold Star Programming and families. Mrs. Kelly, a Gold Star Mom since 2010 with the passing of her son; supports the mission in a variety of ways. She helps organize the “ Run For The Fallen” every year, a 3 day run from Charleston to Columbia where last year they called out 384 names of fallen heroes. She is also an ambassador for an Organization called “Objective Zero” which focuses on the mission of a goal of zero suicides in the Military. In this recent particular event in April, a one of a kind quilt was up for raffle by Angel Oak Stitchery in Harleyville, SC and Personalize It in St. George, SC did the embroidery. Mrs. Anna Cook from JBCMFR was in attendance in an official capacity as the Gold Star representative to help bring awareness to the program along with Mrs. Kelly.
When asked about her personal connection to the Gold Star Program, Mrs. Kelly said “I actually was the first person to receive an Honor And Remember flag in the state of South Carolina, and have been an Ambassador for the organization since.” Gold Star Families is a term reserved for families of military members who have died in the line of duty and is meant to honor the service member’s ultimate sacrifice while acknowledging their family’s loss, grief and continued healing. Even though the nation isn’t currently part of a conflict as all-encompassing as World War II(12% of population) – with only 1% of the U.S. population serving in the military today, there are more Gold Star Families than you might think. Since 9/11, more than 16,000 troops have died in non-combat circumstances and 7,000 died in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars alone. There are also thousands of living Gold Star Family members who lost loved ones in WWI, WWII, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and other conflicts throughout the 20th and 21st centuries.*
If you’d like to know more or about how you can get involved with Gold Star Families right here at Joint Base Charleston, please e-mail one of our Gold Star Family Coordinators at JBCMFR:
Mrs. Anna Cook anna.cook.2@us.af.mil
Mr. Scott Bowermaster scott.bowermaster.2@us.af.mil
www.americasgoldstarfamilies.org
To learn about some of Mrs. Kelly’s initiatives:
https://www.runforthefallen.org/
*Excerpt from USO Story 2471