Key Spouse volunteers keep in touch with families of deployed

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Andrew Biscoe
  • 439 Airlift Wing
WESTOVER AIR RESERVE BASE, Mass. --      A volunteer-driven program is helping keep families of deployed Airmen informed while their loved ones are serving their country away from home.

     One of those Key Spouse Program volunteers is Therese Sarnelli .  She has experienced the months of separation that families deal with - her husband deployed for 15 months six years ago. Now assigned to the 337th Airlift Squadron,Tech. Sgt. Ronald
Sarnelli travels on monthly overseas missions.

     "It was very hard at first when Ron was gone. It took a good two months to get used to being a single parent...the deployment took a lot out of us."

     While Sergeant Sarnelli served in the Army National Guard, Ms. Sarnelli met Kimberly Babin, an Army Guard family resource contact, who is also with the Airmen and Family
Readiness Center as an Air Force reservist.

     "She was the only support I had (through the Army Guard) while Ron was deployed," Ms. Sarnelli said.  "I may have only known Kim at the time for about four months but she made a big impact on me."

     That inf luence led Ms. Sarnelli to join the new Key program at Westover, then called the Key Family Member Program.

     "When I saw they needed help, I thought this would be a perfect way to help another family," she said.  "I knew I could be there for a family, like Kim was there for me. I decided to volunteer when I saw in the news letter that they needed volunteers."

     Ms. Sarnelli reflects on what she has experienced as the greatest benefit to her satisfaction with volunteering.

     "I think just knowing there is someone out there who knows how you feel and can relate is the best feeling in the world," she said. "I feel I can make a difference by just being there for someone. It makes me satisfied knowing I can be there to help someone who needs help. We are all family and should be there for each other."

     For more information on the Key Spouse program, call the Airmen and Family Readiness Center at 557-3024, or visit the web site www.westoverafrc.org