Chapel spreads food, fun, festivities

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Jelani Gibson
  • 82nd Training Wing Public Affairs
SHEPPARD AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  While the NFL Super Bowl took place, and the cheers of Airmen could be heard all throughout the chapel as it bustled with energy, there was also a much more somber task at hand, helping others in need.
 
On a chilly evening dipping well into weather cold enough to ice the snow caked roads, Sheppard Airmen were hard at work delivering goods to the Wichita Falls Faith Mission Feb. 4.
 
The Solid Rock Café was part of an effort to donate food through the Souper Bowl of Caring program, an initiative that has an estimated 260,000 people volunteering across the nation to confront the issue of hunger and poverty every NFL Super Bowl week. Once donations are collected, they are given to a local charity of choice for dispersal to those who need it most.

For Capt. Kristin Swenson, 82nd Training Wing chaplain, spreading goodwill is not just paramount for the community, but for the Airmen as well.

"It was great," she said. "I like for them (the Airmen) to have that opportunity to meet and see the people they are impacting."

Airman Basic James Kester, a 364th Training Squadron fuels apprentice student, wishes to affect other individual's lives for the better and be a part of something greater than himself. It was the Solid Rock Café that filled that very desire.

"I want to make a difference in people's lives," he said. "I feel like I really shine here and do something really good with my time."

As the van pulled up to the loading dock, Airmen hustled outside to offload their donated goods and to take a look inside at the very organization they were helping.

"The basis of volunteering is service. If you help someone, you are on a larger scale helping the world," said Airman Sidney Conner, 366th Training Squadron water and fuels system apprentice.

With both career fields related to one another, Conner and Kester, view their cooperation with one another as something of a wingman partnership.
 
"I know I could trust this guy to have my back," Kester said confidently of Conner.
 
As a military brat, Conner has no regrets about the decision to put on the uniform and the chevrons that accompany his sleeve.

"The Air Force in my opinion was the best way to go," he said