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-- WITH PHOTO -- TO EDUCATION, AND NATIONAL EDITORS:
Recipients Announced For 2014 Military Child Of The Year@ Award
SAN ANTONIO, March 4, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Operation
Homefront today announced the five recipients of the 2014 Military
Child of the Year@ Award. The national non-profit organization that
provides emergency assistance to military families annually gives the
award to an outstanding military child from each branch of service -
Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard.
From a pool of nearly 1,000 nominees, each award recipient was chosen
by a committee including active-duty and retired military personnel,
spouses of senior military leaders, veteran service organization
leadership, teachers, and community members. The five awardees will
receive $5,000 each and will be flown with a parent or guardian to
Washington, D.C., for a special recognition gala on April 10, 2014.
The awards will be presented by senior leaders of each branch of
service and the keynote address will be delivered by Bret Michaels,
legendary singer-songwriter, entrepreneur and philanthropist.
"The sons and daughters of America's service members learn at a very
young age what it means to be a patriot," said Jim Knotts, President &
CEO of Operation Homefront. "These children thrive in the face of the
challenges of military life with grace and courage and use that
experience to become leaders in their communities. The Military Child
of the Year@ Award honors their resiliency."
Following are the 2014 Military Child of the Year@ award recipients.
ARMY Kenzie Hall, 14 Temecula, California
At age 11, Kenzie created a school organization called Bratpack 11 to
help military kids in her school connect and deal with military kids'
issues. In 2013, that evolved into a nonprofit that she now heads to
grant wishes to military kids who have lost a parent in combat or
have had a parent injured in combat. Her goal is to branch out and
have Bratpack 11 groups at schools across the nation where the
military population is large. Kenzie is the daughter of Jason and
Aerica Hall and has a younger sister, Madison. Her father, Jason, is a
Captain stationed with the U.S. Army Recruiting Battalion in Southern
California. She comes from a long line of military members including
two great grandfathers who served in the Navy-one retired and one
served in WWII. A grandfather served in the Air Force, as well as an
uncle and great uncle.
MARINE CORPS Michael-Logan Burke Jordan, 15 Kailua, Hawaii
Michael-Logan was diagnosed at the age of three with Juvenile
Rheumatoid Arthritis and Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, which limits his
mobility and requires biologic/chemo infusions, injections, multiple
oral medications, physical therapy, and surgeries. Michael-Logan is
an Ambassador for the Arthritis Foundation and President of his own
foundation, The Logan's Heroes Foundation, which helps wounded
warriors/first responders and disadvantaged children. At age 13, he
addressed Congress about arthritis, the need for Board Certified
Pediatric Rheumatologists within the DoD community and access to
life-saving drugs. Michael-Logan's professional goal is to become a
Pediatric Rheumatologist and focus his practice within military
treatment facilities.
NAVY Ryan Patrick Curtin, 18 (on March 14th) Corpus Christi, Texas
Ryan began his senior year at home, in bed, and unable to walk. In
early August 2013, Ryan had a lifelong birth defect remedied through
major surgery and recovered faster than expected and was able to
rejoin his teammates on the soccer team. Ryan is an Eagle Scout,
President of the DoD/Naval Air Station Corpus Christi Youth Ambassador
Program, President of the Flour Bluff High School Student-to-Student
Program and was recently awarded the Presidential Volunteer Service
Award (Gold) for 500 annual Volunteer hours. He also lettered in two
varsity sports. Ryan's father, Rex, is a Navy Captain (O-6) stationed
at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, and his mother, Lisa, is the
Interim Director at the Corpus Christi Office of the Navy and Marine
Corps Relief Society. Military service is a family tradition. Ryan's
great grandfather served in the Army and was a Japanese prisoner of
war. One grandfather was in the California National Guard, and the
other retired from the Navy after multiple tours in Vietnam. Ryan's
uncle served in the Army as an Apache helicopter pilot and is now a
Special Agent with the FBI in Virginia.
AIR FORCE Gage Alan Dabin, 18 JBER (Joint Base
Elmendorf-Richardson), Anchorage,
Alaska
Currently a senior in high school, Gage has received nominations to
all service academies and is awaiting appointments. This fits into his
plans to serve in the military as a Foreign Area Officer or in Special
Operations. After retiring from the military, Gage would like to be a
war correspondent. Gage volunteers with Anchorage's Promise Youth
Advisory Board. Amey Armachain, who serves on the Board of Directors
of Anchorage's Promise, states that Gage shows more character and
integrity than adults twice his age. "The moment Gage joined the
committee, he showed his commitment to service, his leadership, and a
level of character you don't typically see in youth his age."
Jennifer, Gage's mother, is a mortgage specialist and his father,
Tobias Adam, is a Senior Master Sergeant Deputy Fire Chief with the
673rd Civil Engineer Squadron at JBER. His family has a long
tradition of military service: Gage's great grandfathers were in WWII
and one went on to serve in Korea. His grandfather retired from the
Navy. Two uncles went to the Naval Academy-one served in the Marines
and the other went into the Navy and served in Vietnam.
COAST GUARD Juanita Lindsay Collins, 17 Clearwater, Florida
Currently a senior, Juanita has been accepted at the University of
Tampa, and has applied to UCLA. Her dream is to become a
pediatrician. Juanita was nominated by Courtney Ward, her Guidance
Counselor for the Exploring Careers and Education in Leadership
(EXCEL) magnet program at Largo High School, who states she is "a
young woman of talent, character, and integrity who maintains a 4.5
cumulative weighted GPA and is ranked number 5 out of 305 seniors."
Ward also states that Juanita is constantly working to be "the best
version of herself that she can be." Juanita's mother, Tafaoga, is
stationed at Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater in Florida; she is the
chief yeoman. Father Ricky is a security guard. Juanita has an aunt
who is currently on active duty with the Air Force, and an uncle who
is medically retired from the Army with two tours in Afghanistan.
About Operation Homefront: A national nonprofit, Operation Homefront
leads more than 2,500 volunteers with nationwide presence who provide
emergency and other financial assistance to the families of service
members and wounded warriors. Operation Homefront has provided
assistance to thousands of military families since its inception in
2002. Recognized for superior performance by leading independent
charity watchdog groups, nationally, 93 percent of total donations to
Operation Homefront go directly to programs that provide support to
our military families. For more information, go to
www.OperationHomefront.net.
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110623/DC25541LOGO
SOURCE Operation Homefront
-0- 03/04/2014
/CONTACT: Aaron Taylor, PR Manager, Aaron.Taylor@OperationHomefront.net, 202-549-4621
/Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110623/DC25541LOGO
/Web Site: http://www.operationhomefront.net
CO: Operation Homefront
ST: Texas
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-- DC76704 --
0000 03/04/2014 21:00:00 EDT http://www.prnewswire.com
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