Army lab employees bring holiday cheer to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center
December 30, 2016
By Jenna Brady, ARL Public Affairs
Dr. Reggie Hobbs (left) and Nick Soprano (right), center coordinator for the USO, along with the items that ARL's Information Sciences Division donated to the Warrior and Family Center at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
ADELPHI, Md. (Dec. 29, 2016) -- U.S. Army Research Laboratory employees recently gave back to those who give their all in support of the protection of our nation.
Members of ARL's Information Sciences Division voted to forgo their usual holiday party in favor of a simpler dessert gathering, where donations of food items were collected for the United Service Organizations' Warrior and Family Center at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center located in Bethesda, Maryland.
This opportunity arose when Dr. Reggie Hobbs, ARL Multilingual Computing and Analytics branch chief, met with the USO on-site representative at WRNMMC and was advised that a donation of snack foods and canned goods would be appropriate.
Accordingly, Hobbs alerted ISD members of the giving opportunity, which resulted in the collection of more than $100 worth of food items.
"As a veteran myself, I was honored to be the one to take our division's donations to the USO," Hobbs said. "It is very gratifying to see all the activities and services the USO offers free to Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen, especially to the wounded warriors and their families."
Hobbs said the division is planning to do an event like this again in the future and encourages others to do the same.
"I would encourage others at ARL to donate food items or to serve as volunteers at the USO," Hobbs said. "This was a simple, meaningful way to contribute to the Soldiers who contribute so much to our nation."
For more information on the USO Warrior and Family Center, visit http://www.usometro.org/bethesda.
The U.S. Army Research Laboratory is part of the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command, which has the mission to provide innovative research, development and engineering to produce capabilities that provide decisive overmatch to the Army against the complexities of the current and future operating environments in support of the joint warfighter and the nation. RDECOM is a major subordinate command of the U.S. Army Materiel Command.