Rev-Up A-1.qxd - Robins Air Force Base
Rev-Up A-1.qxd - Robins Air Force Base
Rev-Up A-1.qxd - Robins Air Force Base
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
insight<br />
August 17, 2007 • The <strong>Robins</strong> <strong>Rev</strong>-<strong>Up</strong> • 1B<br />
F<br />
ood<br />
un<br />
ellowship<br />
&<br />
ellowship<br />
<strong>Air</strong>men’s Ministry<br />
provides mid-week stress<br />
relief to dorm residents<br />
U.S. <strong>Air</strong> <strong>Force</strong> photos<br />
by SUE SAPP<br />
At left, from left<br />
to right <strong>Air</strong>man<br />
Basic Brandon<br />
Lincoln, <strong>Air</strong>man<br />
1st Class Manuel<br />
Amaya, <strong>Air</strong>man<br />
1st Class Shelle<br />
Burke, <strong>Air</strong>man<br />
1st Class<br />
Michael Yaude,<br />
and Senior<br />
<strong>Air</strong>man Shawn<br />
Godwin play a<br />
game of Texas<br />
Hold 'Em.<br />
At right, <strong>Air</strong>man<br />
1st Class<br />
Norman Charlton<br />
plays a game of<br />
pool at the<br />
<strong>Air</strong>men's ministry<br />
Aug. 8.<br />
BY AMANDA CREEL<br />
amanda.creel.ctr@robins.af.mil<br />
When Wednesday rolls<br />
around each week many workers<br />
are looking for a little pick me up<br />
to get them through the rest of<br />
their week.<br />
And when the neon light flips<br />
on each Wednesday night at<br />
Dorm Bldg. 756, that is just what<br />
<strong>Air</strong>men living in the dorms get.<br />
The neon sign beckons all<br />
<strong>Air</strong>men to join Chaplain Joshua<br />
Payne and his family for an<br />
evening of free food and great<br />
fellowship at the <strong>Air</strong>men’s<br />
Ministry.<br />
“It’s a great place to spend<br />
time with friends. You can bring<br />
in your video games and play<br />
pool. It’s a great time of camaraderie,”<br />
said Senior <strong>Air</strong>men<br />
David Shelton, with the 330th<br />
Combat Training Squadron.<br />
The <strong>Air</strong>men’s Ministry,<br />
which is sponsored by the <strong>Base</strong><br />
Chapel, takes place every<br />
Wednesday night from 6 to 8<br />
p.m. each week on the second<br />
floor of the dorm building.<br />
“It’s (the <strong>Air</strong>men’s Ministry)<br />
is a really good link to work with<br />
singles and let them know where<br />
they can plug-in,” he said.<br />
The Wednesday night stressfree<br />
zone is staged out of a storage<br />
room each week, but still<br />
manages to offer the comforts of<br />
home.<br />
“We were creative making<br />
the best of it,” Chaplain Payne<br />
said. “We want it to be a real<br />
strong positive place where<br />
<strong>Air</strong>men are taken care of.”<br />
Chaplain Payne said the idea<br />
behind the event was to create a<br />
coffee shop atmosphere, where<br />
<strong>Air</strong>men living in the dorms<br />
could make connections and<br />
share experiences.<br />
“It gives them the opportunity<br />
to fellowship with new dorm<br />
residents and helps brings people<br />
closer together and gives<br />
them a positive message,” said<br />
Senior <strong>Air</strong>men Felton Neely<br />
with 78th Security <strong>Force</strong>s. “I<br />
think this is great program and<br />
other bases should do it too. It’s<br />
a better outlet besides the normal<br />
stuff.”<br />
<strong>Air</strong>men have the opportunity<br />
to play video games, shoot pool,<br />
play cards and board games, eat<br />
dinner and watch movies.<br />
“We try to get what they want<br />
and have it here for them,” said<br />
<strong>Air</strong>man 1st Class Jonathan<br />
Torres, a chaplains’ assistant.<br />
“It’s a great meet and greet place<br />
where they can get connected.”<br />
One or the many advantages<br />
for some of the dorm residents is<br />
the close proximity to their dorm<br />
rooms.<br />
“It’s right at home and a lot of<br />
people don’t have vehicles and it<br />
gives them somewhere to be,”<br />
said <strong>Air</strong>men Basic Brandon<br />
Lincoln with the 78th Security<br />
<strong>Force</strong>s Squadron.<br />
<strong>Air</strong>men 1st Class Michael<br />
Yaude, 51st Combat<br />
Communications Squadron,<br />
agrees. “I don’t have a car and<br />
it’s like a two-minute walk from<br />
my dorm over here,” he said.<br />
The ministry received a grant<br />
in April from the <strong>Air</strong> <strong>Force</strong> Chief<br />
of Chaplains for $17,000 which<br />
the group used to order all sorts<br />
of furniture and electronics<br />
equipment to make the <strong>Air</strong>men’s<br />
ministry even more of a stress<br />
reliever for the <strong>Air</strong>men. Some of<br />
things the grant helped purchase<br />
included four Liquid Crystal<br />
Display screens, a Playstation 3,<br />
Xbox 360, and a Nintendo Wii,<br />
and some gaming chairs. Along<br />
with funds from the grant, the<br />
78th <strong>Air</strong> <strong>Base</strong> Wing has also<br />
donated quality of life funds to<br />
purchase other items such as<br />
Above, <strong>Air</strong>man 1st Class Catalina Meissner and <strong>Air</strong>man 1st Class Albert Salinas enjoy some pizza and<br />
conversation at the <strong>Air</strong>men's Ministry.<br />
Below, Chaplain (Capt.) Joshua Payne stands next to the <strong>Air</strong>men's Ministry neon sign at Dorm Bldg.<br />
756.<br />
games and extra controllers for<br />
the gaming systems and a popcorn<br />
and cappuccino machine to<br />
make the coffee house gaming<br />
café atmosphere a reality.<br />
Chaplain Payne said without the<br />
support of members of the<br />
<strong>Robins</strong> community the event<br />
would have never been as successful<br />
as it is.<br />
“We have had a lot of support<br />
with no strings attached from<br />
throughout the base,” Chaplain<br />
Payne said.<br />
Recent support is allowing<br />
the <strong>Air</strong>men’s Ministry to plan<br />
big things for the future, including<br />
the possibility of turning the<br />
neon light on permanently in a<br />
new facility.<br />
Chaplain Payne said he is just<br />
grateful to everyone for making<br />
the Wednesday night event such<br />
a success.<br />
Chaplain Payne says in some<br />
ways he and his wife, Danielle<br />
are a dorm room mom and dad<br />
to the <strong>Air</strong>men, providing home<br />
cooked foods and desserts and<br />
someone to talk to about life’s<br />
challenges. Danielle ensures the<br />
menu each week has a little taste<br />
of home by serving a rotating<br />
menu, where one week she<br />
serves store bought desserts and<br />
a homemade entrée and the next<br />
week the ministry might order<br />
pizza and she’ll handle the<br />
homemade goodies for desert.<br />
<strong>Air</strong>men Neely said one of the<br />
perks of the ministry is you can<br />
get some spiritual guidance<br />
while you are in a casual and<br />
comfortable atmosphere.<br />
<strong>Air</strong>men Torres said many<br />
<strong>Air</strong>men feel more comfortable<br />
asking for advice about school or<br />
relationships in a peer environment<br />
than going to the chapel.<br />
He said in the long run it helps<br />
<strong>Air</strong>men feel more comfortable<br />
about going to the chapel for<br />
services, counseling or even to<br />
volunteer.<br />
Another benefit for many of<br />
the <strong>Air</strong>men is knowing the<br />
<strong>Air</strong>men’s ministry will be there<br />
when they return from deployments<br />
and temporary duty<br />
assignments.<br />
“You know if all your friends<br />
PCS or get married while your<br />
gone, you still have somewhere<br />
to go,” Chaplain Payne said.<br />
Chaplain (Capt.) Joshua Payne talks with <strong>Air</strong>man 1st Class Alonzo<br />
Crenshaw at the <strong>Air</strong>men's Ministry gathering Aug. 8.