Airmen visit Air Force Enlisted Village

by Airman 1st Class Stephanie Englar
14th Flying Training Wing Public Affairs

2/7/2014 - COLUMBUS AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- It was a chilly weekend in the Florida Panhandle. With temperatures near freezing, 21 Columbus Air Force Base Airmen traveled to the Air Force Enlisted Village in Shalimar, Fla. Jan. 24 to meet the widows living there and help them with a range of tasks around their homes.

Armed with a variety of tools from axes to brooms, the "honey-doers" helped the residents with tasks such as flipping mattresses, downsizing clutter, rearranging furniture and gardening.

"What an amazing trip," said Airman 1st Class Ethan Sundquist, 14th Operations Support Squadron, who went on the trip. "Never before have I been able to help so many retired veterans or widowed spouses from our military forces."

Sundquist continued by saying, "Over the weekend, volunteers from Columbus AFB went to AFEV near Eglin AFB, Fla. to help the residents by doing tasks that may be more than they can do by themselves. While doing these tasks, myself and other young airmen were told countless stories from love, heartache, leadership and several other valuable lessons that these marvelous people have experienced. This, by far, has been one of the most enriching experiences I have ever had the privilege of doing."

The Airmen received the opportunity to hear stories from the residents about the Air Force decades ago along with the jobs the widows and/or their husbands held.

"A cool experience from the trip was when I shared dinner with several of the residents I helped earlier that day," said Sundquist. "They told me stories from all across the world; everything from taking photos during the first World War to everything their husbands had done to serve their country. After the night started to settle down the ladies told me how much they appreciated everything we had done for them that day. This was truly the most humbling feeling I have ever felt since I started serving in the Air Force."

"The residents we interacted with are still talking about our visit, so we definitely made an impression on them!" said Chief Master Sgt. Vance Kondon, 14th Flying Training Wing Command Chief. "The residents often see service members from closer bases, but for a group to come from nearly seven hours away hasn't happened before."

Kondon said that while he felt it positively impacted the residents, the real impact took place on the Airmen.

"The interactions between differing generations, and the stories shared of sacrifice and service from when our Air Force was in its infancy and in a time of world war were priceless," said Kondon. "Our Airmen all began with a sense of what "service before self" means, but this experience of volunteering at the Village helped open up the aperture a little more on what it means to serve something larger than ourselves."

The AFEV is a non-profit organization; donations to groups such as the Air Force Assistance Fund go to support the organization.

"The AFAF is the official charity of the Air Force," said Chief Master Sgt. James Binnicker, the president and CEO of the Air Force Enlisted Village since March 2000. "There are four entities inside that fund, and we are very fortunate to be one of them."
"So thanks to the generosity of the Airmen throughout the Air Force that donate to the Air Force Assistance Fund that helps sustain the residents out here for the rest of their lives," said Binnicker. "The money doesn't go to salaries, construction or anything but the widows."
According to their website, The Air Force Enlisted Village was founded in 1967 after the Air Force Sergeant's Association conducted a survey and found that over 50,000 widows of enlisted men were living in poverty. AFEV was recognized as an official Air Force charity in 1973. Support through the Air Force Assistance Fund was granted that same year and those donations are earmarked specifically for widows in need.

"I just want to thank the Airmen from Columbus for coming down," said Binnicker. "To make a commitment to come down as a group, it says a lot about the esprit de corps of the Airmen at Columbus AFB. It speaks to the leadership, and I'm just overwhelmed- I just can't say thank you enough."