A&FRC offers holiday fun to Airmen, families

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Clinton Atkins
  • 97th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
ALTUS AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  The Airman and Family Readiness Center knows all about the "holiday blues," and here this holiday season they plan to turn frowns upside down.

The AFRC provides an array of activities, programs and services to single Airmen and to those with family members.

"If there is a surge of Airmen who are deployed, we know that family members are left behind so we try to accommodate their needs and hopefully make them feel at home as much as possible," said Mark Patton, Airman and Family Readiness Flight chief.

The Altus Armed Services YMCA offered a train ride called the "Santa Claus Express." It was a two-hour round trip passenger excursion offered on the Farmrail Quartz Mountain Flyer and traveled from Quartz Mountain to Lone Wolf. The first trip was Dec. 7 and the second trip was Dec. 8. Cookies and milk were served and each child received a gift. Woman's Day Magazine paid the entry fee for children of Airman Basics to Staff Sergeants.

"The trip was a great way for Airmen and their families to experience how it was a hundred years ago," said Joan Wilcoxen, ASYMCA Executive Director.

Also spreading the holiday joy is Pat Moncrief (the spouse of Mission Support Group Commander Col. Keith Moncrief), organizer of the Airmen Christmas Cookie Drive for Airmen in the dorms. Volunteers should deliver cookies 10 a.m., Dec. 17 to the Mission Support Group Conference Room, Bldg. 52. Then the First Sergeants' Council will deliver the cookies to dormitory residents at offices and dorms.

The Airman and Family Readiness Flight hosts the Christmas Extravaganza, which is a social gathering to celebrate the holidays, in Building 52, 9 to 11 a.m., Dec. 21. Spiced cider and cookies will be served at the extravaganza.

"With this event, we wanted to reach out and say, 'Thanks for a great year,'" Mr. Patton said. "It's like an open house, everyone may attend."

For more information on events and programs, call 481-6761.