News Release

Citizen-Soldier Support Program celebrates
Wilmington’s reserve unit’s family day

CHAPEL HILL — The Citizen-Soldier Support Program (CSSP) has partnered with the Wilmington Kiwanis Club and the Wilmington Parks and Recreation Department to celebrate the 650th Army Reserve Unit’s Family Appreciation Day.

The event is Sunday (Sept. 11) from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Empie Park, located off Independence Boulevard on Park Avenue in Wilmington.

The 650th Army Reserve Unit has been hosting the annual family appreciation day for more than a decade. The unit, which consists of more than 60 soldiers, returned from an 8-month deployment to Kuwait in December 2003. The event includes former members of the 650th and families of soldiers who have been deployed with other units.

For the event, Wilmington Parks and Recreation will waive the rental fees and the Kiwanis Club will help children of military members make cards for soldiers in the 82nd Airborne Division Unit.

"This is a way for the Kiwanis Club to continue to advance the interests of children and provide individual members with the opportunity to give back not only to the children, but to the soldiers as well," said Jason Harris, a former National Guard member and board member for the Kiwanis Club.

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. Families of deployed Guard and Reserve members face challenges related to their geographic dispersement and also may lack the benefit of informal support networks that exist around military bases and posts.

The federally-funded Citizen-Soldier Support Program is being spearheaded by UNC-Chapel Hill in partnership with N.C. State, UNC-Charlotte, East Carolina, UNC-Greensboro, Duke, Virginia Tech, Bryn Mawr and UNC-TV.

- 30 -

Citizen-Soldier Support Program background: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/jun05/citizensoldier0605060905.htm

Citizen-Soldier Support Program contact: Crystal Moore, (910) 264-9560 or moore227@atmc.net

News Services contact: Lisa Katz, (919) 962-2093