Picnics offer festivities, food for service members, families, civilian employees

  • Published
  • By Air Force Staff Sgt. William Banton
  • JBER Public Affairs
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska --  Service members, families and civilian employees were honored at the annual Military Appreciation picnics on JBER June 27.

Sponsored by the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce, the picnics featured food, static displays, bounce houses, pony rides and games.

"This is the culmination of our whole military appreciation week," said Van Sanders, membership engagement coordinator at the ACC. "We are really excited to sponsor this event because we get to interact with everyone in the military at all levels."

The day's activities were a chance for service members to get out and enjoy some time with their families, away from work.

"This picnic means a whole lot to me because the community's coming together, they're putting it on, there's free food for us," said Sgt. 1st Class Stephan Ledbetter, a platoon sergeant with the 3rd Battalion (Airborne), 509th Infantry Regiment. "It's a really good deal, especially for families, and just for us getting to have a good break from all the chaos that ensues in our job."

The Chamber's Military Appreciation Week is designed to give local businesses and community leaders an opportunity to show support to service members in the Anchorage area, representatives said.

"We've been putting this event on for about 20 years," said George Vakalis, Anchorage city manager, Chamber of Commerce military committee chair, and retired Soldier. "It's done very enthusiastically by the committee. I think this is a very supportive community of our military."

The ACC has been supporting the military in Anchorage since 1915, Valkalis said.
"It was the military that helped establish Anchorage way back and put a lot of the infrastructure in [Anchorage]," Valkalis said. "It's only fitting that the community be as supportive as they can."

"It is awesome to be at a base where the community wants to do something for the military," said Air Force Master Sgt. Valicia Bannarbie, co-chair for the picnic. "Before coming to JBER I hadn't been at a base that would do that, so having the community to come in and do something for us is an awesome thing."