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NJDMAVA
NEWS
January 2001 |
New Jersey National Guard Delivers
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| On Friday, December 29th, the New Jersey National
Guard put its 20 armories on alert for possible snow missions with the
prospect of 12 or more inches of snow on the way. Soldiers prepared deuce-and-a-half
trucks and humvees and moved them indoors in case they were needed; emergency
operations centers were activated in Fort Dix, Somerset, and Atlantic City;
and units started 24 hour shifts. When the snow started falling in the
early hours on December 30th, the Guard was ready.
Requests for support started coming into the NJ State office of Emergency Management on the morning of December 30, requesting transportation of essential medical personnel to state operated nursing homes and hospitals. |
The Guard responded and sent out humvees to pick up needed
nurses and medical staff. As the storm intensified and moved north, requests
from other hospitals and police departments increased and the guard dispatched
vehicles to help police patrol rural roads in Morris and Passaic Counties
and pick up doctors and nurses for hospitals in Newark and Paterson.
The snowstorm abated in the early evening hours of December 30 and all National Guard personnel stood down by 8:00 p.m. on Saturday. A total of 48 missions had been logged and over 150 Guard soldiers called to duty. As always the National Guard was there when needed – ready to serve. |
| The Spirit of Giving
The spirit of giving and generosity is still alive and well, especially in the New Jersey National Guard. It all began four years ago when Maj. Mark Majkowski, now of the 119th Corps Support Battalion, Lawrenceville; picked up a child’s name at a credit union’s Christmas tree and found that the Children’s Home Society of New Jersey was looking for individuals to sponsor children’s Christmas presents. The 1-150th Aviation Battalion in West Trenton sponsored a child that year and each year through 1999 the number of children kept growing to the point where the unit supported 35 children. In 2000 that would all change. “I sent out a message on the employee network asking for people to join us in supporting these children,” said toy drive coordinator Staff Sgt. Arthur Joseph Valenzuela-Bradley, II; an Attack Helicopter Technical Inspector with the 1-150th Aviation Battalion. The response was overwhelming. 130 commitments came in from all over the state. “Arthur took it to a new level when he contacted the Society,” stated Maj. Majkowski. Staff Sgt. Valenzuela-Bradley got a list of Mercer – Trenton area children’s first names along with their Christmas wish list from the Society. The kids, whose ages ranged from newborns to 17 year olds, asked for such items as clothing, art supplies, stuffed toys, to books and educational toys. From this, he put together a spreadsheet listing the children’s ages and what they wanted. He then posted the list and notified everyone on the network asking for donations. The drive began the first week in |
November and ended December 18 Responses came in from the 1-150th Aviation Battalion in West Trenton, 2-102nd Armor units in Hacketstown, Port Murray and in Somerset; the 50th Main Support Battalion in West Orange, the 119th Corps Support Battalion in Lawrenceville, 108th Air Refueling Wing at McGuire Air Force Base, the Training and Training Technology Battle Lab at Fort Dix, the 57th Troop Command at Atlantic City, Company B of the 1-126th Aviation at Picatinny Arsenal, the 2-113th Infantry at Riverdale, and the 254th Regiment in Sea Girt to name just some of the units that responded to the call. Valenzuela set up drop-off points at Fort Dix, Picatinny Arsenal, West Orange, West Trenton, and Woodbury. With the aid of Pfc. James Malwitz and a New Jersey Army National Guard 5-ton truck, Staff Sgt. Valenzuela picked up the donated items and delivered them to the Society’s headquarters in Trenton. “It was a very thoughtful and caring way to help the needy children and families in the community during the holidays,” stated Florence Paric, Director of Administrative Services of the Children’s Home Society of New Jersey. “It was one of the largest donations made this year.” In the end, 130 needy children in the Mercer – Trenton area were able to look under their Christmas trees and see that Santa Claus, with the help the of the New Jersey National Guard, had come through for them. |
“The New Jersey National Guard - Making New Jersey a Better Place to Live, Work, and Raise a Family.”
