Dear USNA Parent's Club,

For those of you who do not know me, I am Jack Ahart, Captain U.S. Navy (retired) and my daughter Jennifer is a 2006 graduate of the Academy. I have the pleasure of being the Director of the new USO Center at the Charlotte-Douglas International Airport. The Center opened 1 September 2006 and has averaged over 1000 service members, families and guests per week through the first five weeks. That is the good news. The bad news is that the USO Center is a 501 (3) C non-profit organization and needs contributions and donations in order to survive. In order to keep the Center open from 0600 until 2300 it also needs a lot of volunteers to help run it. With the need for volunteers, I am asking all or any of you that are interested to give me a call at (704) 359-5581 and we can set a time to get you a security badge and visit the Center. As a volunteer you will receive a security badge to get you in to the airport and a parking tag that allows you to park in employee parking at no charge. The shifts for the volunteers are 0600-0900, 0900-1200, 1200-1500, 1500-1800, 1800-2100, and 2000-2300, Sunday through Saturday (7 days a week). The volunteer responsibilities are to greet the service members and their families or guests, check their DoD ID cards to ensure they are eligible to use the USO and show them the Center. Other volunteers will keep the food and drinks stocked and talk to the troops, and other volunteers will walk the airport concourses to let any eligible personnel know about the Center so they don't just sit at the gates waiting for their flights. So far, all of the volunteers have really enjoyed their shifts. It is just that we are in need of more volunteers in order to cover all of the shifts, so please consider volunteering. I am told that during Thanksgiving and Christmas we will see around 600 service members each day. Come enjoy, have fun, and talk to the troops.

Remember, THEY NEED THE USO AND THE USO NEEDS YOU!

Very respectfully,

Jack Ahart