HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah -- A family enrolled in the Exceptional Family Member Program here was recently surprised with a $2,000 donation from a community agency.
Lt. Col. Martin Martinez, Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center, thought he was asked to come in the Airman and Family Readiness Center to fill out some paperwork, but instead was surprised with a check to help with some of his exceptional family member’s needs.
Wish for Our Heroes, or W4OH, a non-profit dedicated to assisting service members and in some cases, veterans, provided the financial assistance.
“Wish for Our Heroes provides resources to military members in order to make their deployments a little easier and improve the quality of their family’s lives,” said Tim Neal, W4OH representative. “It started with the goal of providing one wish for every deserving military member.”
Located at the Airman and Family Readiness Center in building 150, the EFMP-FS team provides information, referral, advocacy and many other services to DoD’s exceptional families.
“We consistently work with outside agencies to ensure an exceptional quality of life for our exceptional family members,” said Alysse Seligman, EFMP-Family Support specialist. “Wish for Our Heroes is one of over 100 agencies we work with both in the state and federally.”
She said they have different resources they can use to assist families in need of financial assistance and “we are always happy to help guide our service members in the right direction.”
There are more than 600 families enrolled in Hill’s EFMP, which is about 13% of the active duty force stationed at Hill.
“Hill has an incredible robust medical community; therefore, we have a higher percentage of EFMP families,” she said.
Along with connecting family members with community resources, the EFMP-FS team also organizes and hosts family events and informational classes.
“We regularly send out emails to our EFMP families about events and would love to have folks connect with us via the Airman and Family Readiness Center at 801-777-4681 to sign up for our distro,” said Seligman. “The next class is our August 10 Financial Tools for Caregivers class. Both legal and a personal financial counselor are teaching the class.”
For more information on EFMP resources and events, call Seligman at 801-586-4820 or Tammy Custer at 801-586-2611.