The Fort Irwin Commissary participated in the 2012 Feds Feed Families campaign, which provided donated food purchased by Commissary customers to Barstow residents. This was the fourth year in which the United States Office of Personnel Management requested the Department of Defense to participate in Feds Feed Families. The campaign ran from June 1 to August 31.
Students can apply for 2013 Scholarships for Military Children
The 2013 Scholarships for Military Children Program application period opened Dec. 3 at commissaries worldwide. Applicants can go online through www.commissaries.com or more directly at www.militaryscholar.org. The program, administered by the Fisher House, awards at least $1,500 at each commissary. To apply, the student must be a dependent, unmarried child, younger than 21 (or 23, if enrolled as a full-time student at a college or university) of an active duty Service Member, Reservist, National Guard, retiree, or survivor of a military member who died while on active duty or survivor of a retiree. Applicants, as well as their sponsor, must be enrolled in the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System database and have a current military ID card. The applicant must also be planning to attend or already attending an accredited college or university, full time, in the fall of 2013 or be enrolled in a program of studies designed to transfer directly into a four-year program. Also, applicants must submit an essay on the topic, “Please discuss in detail how one of the First Ladies (since 1933) has made an impact on a social issue in the United States,” with details at http://www.militaryscholar.org. Applications must be turned in to a commissary by close of business Feb. 22. For questions, contact Scholarship Managers at (856) 616-9311 or email them at militaryscholar@scholarshipmanagers.com.
Commissary recycling nets $5.3 million for surcharge fund
Recycling cardboard to the tune of 63,000 tons a year helps save the environment and build new commissaries. Here’s how: Cardboard used to ship products to commissaries is not thrown away but is collected by store workers and sold to recycling companies. Money generated from those sales – $5.33 million in fiscal year 2012 – goes to DeCA’s surcharge fund, which goes directly to build and renovate commissaries. The process used by commissaries in fiscal year 2012 was 70 percent efficient, meaning that 70 percent of all recyclable material brought into stores got recycled. It surpassed the agency’s recycling goal of 55 percent and its stretch goal of 60,000 tons.
