New USO centers open at JBER

  • Published
  • By Airman Valerie Monroy
  • JBER Public Affairs
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska --  This year, the United Service Organizations celebrated its 75th anniversary of lifting the spirits of troops and their families.

The USO hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony for their new USO Center and USO Wellness Center at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Feb. 11.

The USO centers will be available for use to all active-duty, National Guard, Reserve and family members with correct identification.

The USO Center is fully furnished with comfortable seating, flat-screen TVs with cable access, XBOX and PlayStation game consoles, leather gaming seats, computers with wi-fi and Common Access Card access and printing services.

Within the center, a multipurpose room with a 70-inch screen is available for meetings, classes, or training. The room is equipped with a computer for multimedia presentations and other events.

"It can even be used for movie marathons," said Tara Morgan, USO Alaska Center director.

The USO Wellness Center was designed to supplement existing wellness and fitness programs offered at JBER.

"This facility is the first of its kind for the USO and it is part of the new programming focused on physical and emotional resiliency," Morgan said.

The facility offers a variety of equipment including cardio and weight machines, free weights, battle ropes, suspension trainers and more, she continued. TV and wi-fi are also available in the wellness center, which is open 24/7.

Volunteers are needed to keep the USO centers open.

"The USO runs on volunteers. We have over 30,000 volunteers worldwide [who] range from retired military, spouses and active duty to civilians," said Barbara Knaak, USO Alaska Center operations supervisor. "The USO could not complete our mission without our volunteers."

Volunteers will be able to do a variety of tasks at the centers-to greet people as they come in, give tours, check out games or movies and be in charge of the kitchen by passing out snacks, Knaak said.

"[The USO Center] is open from noon to 10 p.m., Sunday through Thursday and noon to midnight on Friday and Saturday," Knaak said. "We have two-hour shifts set up but if someone wanted to do a longer shift, they can sign up for back-to-back shifts."

To volunteer at the USO go to www.usovolunteer.org, or contact Barbara Knaak at bknaak@uso.org.