Airman and Family Readiness Center continues to improve support by working with joint services

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Ashley Coomes
  • 319th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
GRAND FORKS AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. --  The Interservice Family Assistance Committee gathered for their quarterly meeting Feb. 15 at the Airman and Family Readiness Center here to work to provide multi-service networking for "total force family readiness."

Family support representatives from active duty, Reserve, Regional Readiness Commands, Direct Reporting Units, National Guard and representatives from community agencies collaborate to form the ISFAC. The goal of the ISFAC is to strengthen existing family assistance programs in the event of mobilization, deployment or natural disasters through the interaction of committee agencies, according to John Hanson, of the Family Support center.

"The goal of the ISFAC is to meet the needs of all the military families. We're here to help them, and we are working to figure out the best way," said Mr. Hanson.

Relief can be provided more efficiently when the services work together. There are cases which have proved this, such as in 2006 when a deployed member's family was involved in a house fire and lost everything they owned. The Airman and Family Readiness Center here worked with the Army Emergency Relief to give immediate assistance until their insurance company paid them.

Another recent example is when a member of an Army Airborne Ranger unit was home on leave and did not have the funds to return to her unit to deploy. The AFRC here stepped in and was able to secure funding from the Army Emergency Relief for her airline ticket to Fort Bragg, N.C.

During this meeting, the ISFAC worked to expand communication and establish a network among family support providers and resolve family issues in an inter-service environment. The committee wants to reduce duplication of services offered by ensuring families are referred to the correct agency.

The ISFAC is also working to enhance family assistance during deployments and disasters. The state's National Guard units are attending the transition assistance program at the AFRC here and are receiving the calendar of events and classes from the AFRC for their spouses. Also, a community readiness consultant goes to the units of Guard, Reserve, military entrance processing centers and family meetings to brief what we provide for the units.

"Our overall objective is to work with all the available agencies to help our military families," said Mr. Hanson.