ISSUE 5 DECEMBER | 2013

The Better Half

A PUBLICATION OF THE FORT HOOD OFFICERS’ SPOUSES’ CLUB

PMB #296 PO Box 8001 Fort Hood, Texas 76544 www.forthoodosc.org https://www.facebook.com/FHOSC

FORT HOOD OFFICERS’

SPOUSES’ CLUB BOARD

2013-2014

Honorary President Hollyanne Milley Advisor Sylvia Phipps President Tracy Curran 1st Vice President Rebecca Hayes 2nd Vice President Adrian Evans Angie Taylor Operating Treasurer Amanda Cooper Community Outreach Treasurer Ashley Dixon Corresponding Secretary Mary Ann Jack Recording Secretary Alison Donnelly Volunteer Coordinator Christine Ramos Parliamentarian Carla Norris Membership Chair(s) Jessica Pullig Tiffany McIntyre Reservations Chair(s) Jessica Amacker Heidi Maracle Ways & Means Chair Laura Porter Newsletter Chair Sara Mitchell Vendor Chair(s) Vickie Engle Alexandra Miles Publicity Chair Jennifer Vroegindewey Loan Closet Chair Amanda Riley Hospitality Chair Kasey Sanders Historian Chair Ester Campeau Community Outreach Chair Sharon Rice Community Liaison Chair Janice Glossen Sponsorship Chair VACANT Holiday Bazaar Chair Christine Ramos Wild West Chair VACANT Golf Scramble Chair VACANT Website Coordinator Kristen Smith 1st Army Div (West) Representative Danielle Thomas 1st CAV Representative Kelly Lesperance OTC Rep VACANT 13th S C (E) Rep Stacy Clady III Corp HQ Rep Leslie Love III Corp Sep Rep (1) Daphnie Cantlon III Corp Sep Rep (2) Gail Dillon III Corp Sep Rep (3) Nikki Hensley

Welcome New Members

We would like to welcome our newest members who joined in the month of November: Elizabeth Brothers, Shelly Moehlenbrock, Susan Tamberg, and Christy Tremblay. We look forward to seeing you at our many upcoming events!

President’s Corner

Hello Everyone!

In this season of giving and joyous spirit, I wanted to take a moment and say THANK YOU to all of those who have stepped up to serve on the Fort Hood Officers’ Spouses’ Club board this year. And a special thank you to all of those who have given their time to not only volunteer with FHOSC, but with many other non-profits and community outreach organizations here in our great community. Without your commitment and volunteerism in our community, it would not shine so brightly. I am so thankful for each of you. Keep it up!

As I look forward to 2014, we have a busy last half of the board year. I hope you will be able to come out and not only enjoy our fabulous luncheons, but volunteer at our Sweetheart Bingo (February 6th), Wild West Night (February 28th) and our Golf Scramble (May 2nd).

We all know families with deployed Soldiers or have one of our own. Please continue to pray for their safe and speedy return. I wish you all a new year filled with peace, joy and happiness! Merry December!

Tracy Curran President Fort Hood Officers’ Spouses’ Club

November Luncheon Pictures

Thank you to all who participated!

January Luncheon

Fort Hood Officers’ spouses’ club

Presents

Membership Bingo Luncheon

“Pack Your Bags with Prizes”

Wednesday, January 15th

11:00am—2:00pm

Community Events and Bingo Center

Don’t Forget to Get Your FHOSC Passport Stamped!

A Few Thank You’s Are In Order

We also wanted to thank the number of people who participated in November’s Make It, Bake It, Fake It Luncheon. There was an amazing turn out of donated items and we were able to raise a lot of money, which is really outstanding! Thank you for your continued support and we look for-ward to seeing you at the January luncheon!

Also, we wanted to thank everyone who donated to the Central Texas Veteran’s Health System. The donations were astounding! Everyone who filled out Christmas cards and the presents that were donated will be delivered on December 22nd. Also thank you to Anne-Marie Lerner for do-nating a beautiful handmade bracelet for the Community Outreach raffle.

Holiday Bazaar Appreciation

We wanted to thank everyone who helped out in making our 32nd Annual Holiday Bazaar a success. Without all of our great volunteers, we would have never been able to make it happen and raise the money that we did. We know this is such a busy time of the year and to take time out of your day means a lot, so we really just wanted to make sure you knew how much you were appreciated. We would like to recognize the following people for volunteering (we tried to catch everyone so forgive us if your name is not on the list): Lisa Applegate, The-resa Barras, Megan Blevins, Boy Scout Troop 222, Carolyn Boyd, Lori Brooks, Ester Cam-peau, Central Texas Community College, Stacy Clady, Theresa Clifford, Amanda Cooper, Tra-cy Curran, Ashley Dixon, Vicki Engle, Adrian Evans, Sheena Girtty, Cynthia Glenn, Janice Glosson, Lisa Gray, Kristen Haun, Rebecca Hayes, Nikki Hensley, Mary Ann Jack, Jessica Jaime, Shanel Knox-Miller, Leanne Kocian, Elizabeth Lauer, Leslie Love, Rich Lucas, Andrea Macdonald, Heidi Maracle, Christina Masci, Hollyanne Milley, Carla Norris, Stephanie Periatt, Sylvia Phillips, Laura Porter, Jessica Pullig, Christine Ramos, Jackie Reese, Sharon Rice, Amanda Riley, Marvalon Robinson, April Sanchez, Kasey Saunders, Julianna Sherman, Sandy Smith, Patricia Sorenson, Angie Taylor, Danielle Thomas-Jackson, Jennifer Vroegindeway, and Lisa West.

BELL COUNTY MUSEUM NEWS

On December 21st, gather the kids and bring them to the museum for the annual holiday or-nament workshop! Enjoy hot cider and cookies while making two different ornaments. The first is a Christmas dream catcher. According to wisegeek.org, dream catchers are “based on the Native American tradition of hanging a symbolic web over a sleeping person to protect him or her from bad dreams….Hung above the dreamer, the web filters dreams from the night air, letting only the good dreams or important messages through.” Our dream catchers will have a Christmas-y feel that will make them welcome on any tree! Our second ornament us-es cotton and other fun trinkets to make a snowy Christmas scene. The workshop will be held from noon until 4:00pm and is free. The Bell County Museum is located at 201 N. Main Street in Belton, Texas and you can visit their website at www.bellcountymuseum.org.

Get To Know Your Board Members

Alison Donnelly is this year’s Recording Secretary. Previously she has been the President and the Vice President of the Spouses’ Club in USAG Humphrey’s in Korea. She has only been here at Fort

Hood for 1 1/2 years and she enjoys how close she is to some of the major cities that Texas has to offer. Alison also volunteers at Division West and owns her own busi-ness—Smallprint Texas and Silver Pet Prints Texas. She is not new to the Army and has lived at Fort Rucker three times, Fort Bragg, Korea twice, Fort Campbell, Kansas, England and now Fort Hood. Her longest duty station was Korea. She has 3 children—2 boys and 1 girl and a Yellow Lab named Remy. What Alison finds rewarding about volunteering is meeting and becoming good friends with nice people while helping the community at the same time. Some other tidbits about Alison is she tends to be a bit over scheduled and tasked between three busy children, one being a competitive gym-nast, other super sporty as well as a musically included daughter and being involved in the FRG while her husband is in command. Not to mention she started her own busi-ness but she gets to travel the great state of Texas and fell in love with so many aspects of Texas because of work and gym. She also worked at Gap Inc for almost twelve years opening stores all over the United States and trained managers for the southeast and even worked for Gap UK! She received her MBA while pregnant with her third child and upon returning back to the US wanted to go back to work and applied but ended up not wanting it because she missed her kids—therefore she ended up working from home!

Alison Donnely

Recording Secretary

See You In January!

We know many of you are traveling in the

upcoming few weeks, so please stay safe and we

hope you enjoy your Holiday Season.

See you in January!

Get To Know Your Board Members

Mary Ann Jack is this year’s Correspondence Secretary, and this is her first time serving on a Spouses’ Club Board. She has been here at Fort Hood for 2 1/2 years and she really enjoys the diversity, the sense of patriotism and the sense of community here. Mary Ann also volunteers for the 13th ESC FRG, AFAP, AFTB as well as AUSA. Mary Ann grew up in New Mexico and went to college in New Orle-

ans and San Antonio. She lived in San Antonio for 22 years and briefly in Atlanta. Their first duty station after being married was in Heidelberg, Germany and she feels very blessed to have traveled Europe while living there. She and her husband have been married for a little over five years now and they have no other pets outside the deer that grace their yard every day. She has a step-daughter that is 26 years old that is married and lives in Tyler, TX that both her and her husband are very proud of. She feels very lucky to be so close to several family members here in Texas. Mary Ann feels that volunteering is such a rewarding experi-ence. When a project succeeds and lets the family or individual see the light when their life seems more than they can handle alone, it makes her smile inside and out. Her family has a long history of volunteerism going back to the 1960s at least. She has learned through volun-teering that a person or group can touch and leave a lasting impression on so many deserving people. She has also learned that there are so many unsung heroes out there than anyone can imagine! Mary Ann is a country girl at heart and was raised on a large ranch where she rode horses and worked on her father’s ranch as a child. She didn’t get breaks for being the boss’ daughter and hard work is nothing new to her. There was always a way to “make things work,” and her parents taught her to do unto others above all. She feels that she had the best role models ever—her father who was a retired USMC Officer and her mother, three brothers and one sister. She is the youngest of five children and their family is very close. She met the man of her dreams and her best friend 5 1/2 years ago and have been through two deploy-ments while married (three since they met). Being a military spouse brings special challenges to the table, as we all know but she feels that having the network of spouses has made very single one of those challenges incredibly easier. Mary Ann is very outgoing and always has been and loves history and art—particularly local history. She tries to learn as much about any place she lives. She misses her hometown all the time. Growing up in Ruidoso, New Mexico is a tough card to beat and although she has been to some of the most beautiful places this world has to offer, her heart will always be on that ranch at the foot of the Sierra Blanca Moun-tain in New Mexico sneaking apples off the trees in the orchard after school!

Mary Ann Jack

Correspondence Secretary

Get To Know Your Board Members

Angie Taylor is currently serving as our 2nd Vice President co-Chair. She has been here at Fort Hood for nine years now and loves the people, weather, convenience and what it has to offer as far as shopping, dining and entertainment. Angie Angie has been married to her husband for 14 years and during that time

has lived in several places besides Fort Hood. One of those places was Fort Drum, New York and she remembers it being very cold with a lot of snow and that her first son was born there, who is now 12 years old. She also has lived in Fort Sill, Oklahoma where she loved the buffalo and prairie dogs as well as being the birthplace of her second son, who is now 10 years old. Angie also has lived at Fort Bragg, North Carolina which was their first duty station after being married. They were briefly there before her husband went to OCS and she enjoyed her short time there. Outside of her two sons, they have three adorable dogs—2 shi tzus and a pug. Angie loves the fact that she is able to devote a lot of time to volunteering and outside of FHOSC she volunteers with Division West, 120th Infantry Brigade (most recently she was the Treasurer and Secretary for 2-393 Infantry Battalion), Santa’s Workshop as well as the Killeen Independent School District. She finds it rewarding when she knows she is helping Soldiers and their families directly or helping to give back to the community through raising money that goes back to deserving people. Since she enjoys volunteering so much she has been recognized and earned prestigious awards, including The Yellow Rose of Texas Award, recognizing her selfless service to the military and surrounding communities. Having been a member of the military community for several years she has completed numerous military support training classes such as Care Team Training. Originally Angie grew up outside of Washington DC in Alexandria, VA and graduated from George Mason University in Fairfax, VA earning a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology. She enjoys crafting and organizing in her spare time and also runs a small business with two of her friends. Her business is called All Tied Out and they make unique, one of a kind accessories from Up-cycled Neckties.

Angie Taylor

2nd Vice President Co-Chair

Holiday Bazaar Pictures

Noodles and Company Free Meal

The Fort Hood Officers’ Spouses’ Club was entered in a drawing for an organization to earn a well deserved treat and our membership is being rewarded with a free meal during the month of December. Please read the following information:

Thank you for telling Noodles and Company about your organization, we appreciate all of the good works you do in the Killeen community! As a huge THANK YOU to you, your staff, and your volunteers, we would love to invite you all in for a FREE lunch or dinner at Noodles and Company in Killeen. We have a wonderful array of made to order, fresh, noodles dishes, sandwiches and salads.

All of our menu items can be customized to meet individuals dietary needs and preferences. All of the details of our menu can be found at www.noodles.com/menus. We would love to in-vite all of the members, volunteers, and friends of the Fort Hood Officers’ Spouses’ Club to come and bring a guest for a FREE meal during the month of December! Members can sign up for a FREE meal themselves and a guest by following the steps sent out in your email.

Please check your email as you should have received instructions on how to receive a free meal last week.

Thank you and we hope you take advantage of this kind offer!

Other Special Event Dates

February 6 Sweetheart bingo

February 28 Wild West Night

May 2 Golf Scramble

Mark Your Calendars

“Making a Positive Impact on Our Military Journey”

January 15, 2014 Membership Bingo Luncheon “Pack Your Bags with Prizes”

February 12, 2014 Red Dress Luncheon

“Come Aboard and Support Women’s Heart Health Awareness”

March 19, 2014 Remembrance Luncheon

“Military Journey Over the Years”

April 9, 2014 Denim and Diamonds Luncheon

“Passenger Appreciation”

May 14, 2014 Breakfast at Tiffany’s Luncheon

“New Crew Installation”

Website Update

We’ve updated our Website—so please check us

out at www.forthoodspousesclub.org.

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See you there!!!