Retirees On Call will expand efforts to assist local military
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on January 11, 2015 1:50 AM
News-Argus/MELISSA KEY
Becki Rogato, left, a volunteer with ROC, or Retirees on Call, at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, helps Shirley McFadden, widow of a retired airman, back into her home after taking her to a doctor's appointment. ROC, formed this past year, enlists the help of retired military to step in and help deployed and military families where needed.
Nearly a year since being introduced to link military retirees with an opportunity to support deployed and active duty families, Retirees on Call is gaining momentum and poised to be replicated at other installations around the country.
The progress comes as no surprise to Mick and Karin O'Donnell, who launched the program in January 2014. At that time, O'Donnell, himself retired military, said he envisioned "100 ROCs, one for each county in North Carolina."
The program has a pool of 20-plus volunteers serving in a wide variety of areas -- from home maintenance and car repairs to mowing a lawn or giving someone a ride.
It often includes providing child care.
O'Donnell said he "cured three cases of hiccups" during one such stint.
"It was nice for us, too, because a lot of our grandchildren are not next door," added his wife.
The "extended family" element, or substitute grandparents are just one way the retirees step up and lend a hand to military families that might be far from home.
The effort began as a way to support families of deployed airmen in their absence, the couple said.
Danielle Owens fell into that category when she first met the O'Donnells. Her husband was TDY (on temporary duty assignment) for 45 days and she was formerly active duty, serving for 11 years.
She is also affiliated with the Key Spouses program, an Air Force-wide initiative that currently has more than 200 members at Seymour Johnson.
"Col. and Mrs. (Mark) Slocum (4th Fighter Wing commander) have really revamped it," she said. "They have a Hearts Apart dinner every month for deployed families.
"We do training. They educate us on all the things that are available for when you do encounter problems."
The partnership between ROC and the Key Spouses program was a natural one. It also branched out to incorporate military families, whether deployed or not.
"It saves people so much money," Mrs. Owens said. "Not only do they help with child care, they help with donations. The maintenance, they come by and they save our Air Force families so much money. That's the main purpose right now.
"They're people in this day and age, people you can trust. They have so much to offer because they have so much experience."
ROC has been receiving a bit of notoriety in recent months as word has spread about its effectiveness, earning it an Air Combat Command Best Practices award. It is also being recognized as a program worth emulating.
"Two Air Force bases, Moody (in Georgia) and Shaw (in South Carolina), after the first of the year I'm going to visit both places and help them get their ROC program started," O'Donnell said. "They're the first ones after Seymour."
The potential is there to become even more widespread.
"It's going to be at the bases who have wing commanders who want it," Mrs. O'Donnell said. "Really, we have received invaluable help here (from Slocum).
"His soldiers need it. They need to know their families are secure and there's a network of support. These are bases in which there have been expressed interest at the command level."
Receiving support from the local wing commander definitely help propel ROC into a more prominent position.
"Col. Slocum kind of challenged us. We're going to work on this first of the year," Mrs. O'Donnell said. "There will be retiree liaisons that will act as liaison to a specific group or squadron. They can go to their meetings, connect with their Key Spouses and either bring back their needs or let them know what we have available.
"For one, it will expand their base. That person would know that they had a direct responsibility to maintain contact so that if there were issues that arose in a particular group, they would know about them."
Between the developing pool of volunteers and programs such as Key Spouses, the Air Force should be better positioned to provide a sense of community for those settling in Wayne County, whether temporarily or for an extended period.
As such, more volunteers are needed, O'Donnell said.
"The more people we get, the better off we are, the more services we can offer," he said.
It is also easily replicated, Mrs. O'Donnell said, and should be, since there are so many others who could benefit from the option.
"There is no program like this anywhere in the Air Force, but we want this to be on every base for our families when they move," she said.
For more information on ROC, call 919-580-0007 or 919-920-4480.