WASHINGTON – Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR), a Department of Defense program, announced the 2019 ESGR Volunteers of the Year Award Regional recipients March 17.
ESGR has the unique characteristic for a government organization of relying on nearly 3,700 volunteers across 54 state committees to carry out local engagement with Service members, employers, and to conduct informal mediation between civilian employers and Service members when issues arise related to military service.
In 2019, ESGR volunteers logged more than 205,000 hours of service, delivering a $5.2 million return on investment to the Department of Defense. Collectively, ESGR volunteers executed 3,819 events, engaged more than 11,600 employers and briefed more than 305,000 Service members last year.
The following recipients were nominated by their respective state committee Chairs and were selected by Regional Awards Boards comprised of the Chairs within each region.
These outstanding volunteers went above and beyond in their contributions to ESGR's overall impact....
We congratulate the outstanding volunteers listed below and thank them for their continuous support of Guard and Reserve members.
2019 Employer Outreach Regional Volunteers of the Year:
Susan Robertson - Northeast - Pennsylvania
Angie Gibbs - Southeast - South Carolina
Ray Forgy - Central - Texas
Greg Peck - West - California
2019 Military Outreach Regional Volunteers of the Year:
Daniel Lanier - Northeast - West Virginia
Bernard Gaydos - Southeast - Georgia
Paul Ray - Central - Oklahoma
Janet Cowley - West - Wyoming
2019 Public Affairs Regional Volunteers of the Year:
William Burkhard - Northeast - Pennsylvania
James Billings - Southeast - Alabama
Speedy Castillo - Central - Texas
Susan Schenk - West - Oregon
2019 Ombudsman Regional Volunteers of the Year:
Terry Curran - Northeast - Pennsylvania
Daniel Arp - Southeast - Tennessee
Walter (Terry) McCollom, Jr. - Central - Illinois
Jay Gorman - West - New Mexico
2019 Training Regional Volunteers of the Year:
Paul Desmond - Northeast - Massachusetts
Dr. Norm Naylor - Southeast - Tennessee
Nancy Brown - Central – Missouri
Lynn Albi - West - Colorado
2019 Operations Regional Volunteers of the Year:
George Mentzer - Northeast – Pennsylvania
Jon Woodham - Southeast - Arkansas
George Nami - Central - Texas
Patrick Kuykendall - West – California
The Regional Volunteers of the Year are further evaluated by the appropriate ESGR subcommittee for selection as National Volunteers of the Year in each function/mission category.
To learn more about ESGR visit www.esgr.mil.