News Release

CHAPEL HILL -- The counties of southeastern North Carolina are standing up in conjunction with the Citizen-Soldier Support Program, a federally funded initiative led by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, to declare Military Personnel and Family Appreciation Day on Friday (Nov. 11).

Ten counties have proclaimed support for the service personnel of the National Guard and Reserves, pledging to activate their communities to strengthen and serve citizen-soldiers and their loved ones.

The following counties are passing resolutions of support on Friday, Veteran’s Day: Brunswick, Craven, Cumberland, Duplin, Jones, Lenoir, Onslow, Robeson, Sampson and Wayne.

New Hanover and Pender counties have already passed resolutions in support of their local military personnel, while Beaufort, Bladen, Carteret, Columbus, Greene, Johnston, Pamlico and Pitt counties have plans to pass resolutions around Thanksgiving or Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.

There are approximately 6,358 Reserve soldiers in southeastern North Carolina. These citizen-soldier families, unlike the families of active military personnel who live on or near a military post, do not have an established military support structure. The Citizen-Soldier Support Program is transforming the already existing community support into actions and services to help citizen-soldiers and their loved ones, organizers said.

The program also assembles specialists in areas such as child care, schools, recreation facilities, libraries, cooperative extension, faith communities and civic leadership to develop and foster strategies that augment the program’s community efforts.

The Citizen-Soldier Support Program is a community-based initiative aimed at mobilizing community organizations and services to support and strengthen local citizen soldiers, their families and loved ones. The federally funded Citizen-Soldier Support Program is being led by UNC-Chapel Hill, in partnership with Duke University, N.C. State, UNC-Charlotte, East Carolina, UNC-Greensboro, Virginia Tech, Bryn Mawr College and UNC-TV.

- 30 -

Citizen-Soldier contact: Crystal Flanders-Moore, (910) 617-6974