American Red Cross Yokota dedicates children's waiting room at dental clinic

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Lynsie Lorenz
  • 374th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan --  U.S. military personnel at Yokota Air Base gathered at the dental clinic for the dedication of the children's waiting room, hosted by the American Red Cross Yokota, Feb. 26.

Two volunteers spent more than 300 hours cleaning up the furniture, painting murals, getting a TV installed and adding toys for the children to enjoy in their new waiting room.

"We re-painted the children's waiting room walls and paid for everything you see here: the TV, books and the toys," said Mary Basiliere, ARC Yokota senior station manager. "Some of the furniture was already here and in great shape."

The ARC began a military outreach program in 2008 after it received a $20 million appropriation from congress to provide services to injured and sick soldiers. The fund was later expanded to include additional benefits for military facilities around the world.

"We meet with the [374th Medical Operations Group] to determine needs that they can't do on their own, and then we see what our guidelines are that are provided under the appropriation and, from that, we determine what we can do to assist," said Ms. Basiliere.

Ms. Basiliere said the idea for the revamped waiting room started about a year ago.

"Originally we were going to hang a few Mickey Mouse posters on the wall, but our volunteers had the idea to do the mural," she said. "The [374th Medical Operations Group] supported it as well."

Angela Rainey, an ARC volunteer, was asked if she wanted to re-decorate the waiting room, and she came up with the idea to do the mural.

"I went to my friend Kelley [Monkevich] because she's very talented, and she came up with the drawings," said Mrs. Rainey, who worked on the project since September. "It makes me very happy to see people enjoying it."

Ms. Monkevich made all the drawings at her home, copied them onto a transparency, and used an overhead projector to trace them onto the walls.

"Volunteering really helped me, because otherwise I would probably have been home in my house just watching TV or cleaning house; but instead, it got me out," Ms. Monkevich said of her experience. "It got me in touch with a love of mine."