Mission Family: Community rallies to support military families - Marine Corps Community, discussions, blogs, photos & video - Marine Corps Times

Mission Family: Community rallies to support military families

Mary Dunkley was sipping a cup of coffee at a gas station in Linden, Mich., in April, when she saw a sign offering 25-cent coffee to police and firefighters.

“I thought, ‘What about the military?’” said Dunkley, whose husband, Spc. Richard Dunkley, was deployed with the Michigan National Guard at the time.

This spurred bigger thoughts — maybe all the businesses in Linden could give some sort of discount or service to military people.

“Maybe this small farming town could show the rest of the country how to help military families,” Mary Dunkley said. “I guess it’s the former Marine in me.”

Linden is a town of about 3,000 people, including a number of military families, Dunkley said. The closest military installation is Selfridge Air National Guard Base, about 90 minutes away.

Dunkley is still in the process of contacting all 116 business owners in Linden and talking to town officials. Next up: getting the word out to other military families about Linden’s generosity. Dunkley’s plans include attending the Inter-Service Family Assistance Committee at Selfridge in mid-November.

Since the wars began, many communities near active-duty bases have rallied around families of deployed troops, with services such as respite child care and discount meals for returning troops. But in some places — especially communities near Guard and reserve facilities — people may not even realize military families are there.

Sometimes, it’s just a matter of asking. Many people really want to support military families but just need to be shown how.

“I hadn’t realized we had such a high concentration of military families,” said Chrissy Rexin, manager of Linden’s Serendipity Day Spa, which is offering military families free upgrades on massages or pedicures, as well as a 10 percent discount on any other purchase or service.

Dunkley is not asking for large commitments — just whatever a neighbor or business can do to show its appreciation.

According to a military legal expert, as long as a spouse drums up this kind of support with no official involvement from a service member, it’s OK. Spouses should always make clear that they are doing this as a spouse, with no official involvement from the member’s affiliated service component.

Among those in Linden who want to help military families are the high school football team — pitching in on tasks like yardwork for families of deployed troops — and the Bear Creek Coffee Café, offering a military discount of 10 percent.

Dan Dean owns the café with his wife, Cathy, whose nephew is a former active-duty soldier who deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq.

The café’s discount for troops and their spouses “is not a huge financial reward,” he said. “But it’s a way we can recognize and honor local military families.”

Karen Jowers is the wife of a military retiree. E-mail her at kjowers@atpco.com.