Southeast Community College received the Pro Patria Award from the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, a Department of Defense agency, during a ceremony at the Regency Hotel in Omaha in late April.
SCC had the highest number of points in the public sector category to win the award.
The College and Werner Enterprises and 92 West, both of Omaha, are among 133 semifinalists nationwide for the 2012 Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award, the highest recognition given by the DOD to employers for exceptional support for their Guard and Reserve employees. This year there were 3,236 nominations.
Bruce Tangeman, vice president for human resources at SCC, and Loran Stara, Building Construction Technology instructor and the person who nominated the College, accepted the award on behalf of the College.
“Bruce and I stood with numerous generals from all branches of our military service and received an award that truly belongs to each and every one of you,” Stara wrote to his fellow SCC Milford employees. “It was your letters, care packages and emails that encouraged me to submit a package to the ESGR while I was deployed to Bagram, Afghanistan last year.”
Stara, Master Sergeant in the United States Air Force, is a First Sergeant in the 455th Expeditionary Operations Group. He was deployed to Bagram Air Force Base for a five-month period that ended in January 2011.
The best of the best at the state level are recognized each year by ESGR with the Pro Patria Award. It is presented to an employer who has provided the most exceptional support of our national defense through leadership practices and personnel policies that support their employees who serve in the National Guard and Reserve.
Thirteen care packages were mailed to Stara during his deployment. The care package project began after a Milford Campus social concerns committee meeting. Approximately 25 SCC-Milford employees were involved in each care package, as well as some anonymously. Everything from shampoo, deodorant and baby powder to potato chips, peanut butter, gum, candy, Slim Jims, and popcorn, to Halloween masks, waxed lips, books, crossword puzzles, and decks of cards was sent.
Stara’s colleagues in the Building Construction Technology program built and dismantled two small saw horses that Stara had requested, as well as two small step stools. Stara said when he returned to Milford that by the end of his tour, his group was always excited when the SCC care package arrived.
“You all went over and above the call of duty and for that, you are all truly deserving of such an award,” Stara said in his email. “Thank you again for your support of me, my family and our great military during my time of deployment.”
The award will be on permanent display on the Milford Campus.
ESGR will announce the 2012 Freedom Award finalists sometime this month after a review board comprised of military and civilian leaders selects the 30 most supportive employers from among the 133 semifinalists. The 15 award recipients will be announced early this summer and honored in Washington, D.C., at the 17th annual Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award Ceremony on Sept. 20.