U.S. Army Europe announces German-American Friendship Awards

March 11, 2012

By U.S. Army Europe Public Affairs

HEIDELBERG, Germany -- U.S. Army in Europe announces the 2011 USAREUR Social Media Outreach-KONTAKT awards. Facebook

The awards program honors Outreach-KONTAKT groups and individual members, as Twitter well as non-member Soldiers, Family members, civilian employees and host nation Flickr supporters throughout Germany, for their outstanding contributions to the program and their support to German-American friendship. YouTube

This year’s awards recipients were selected by the USAREUR Office of the Chief of Public Affairs for their overwhelming volunteer support to the military and local communities.

The Outreach-KONTAKT program gives Soldiers, Family members and civilians an opportunity to learn about Germany and its culture. In return, it also provides information about the American way of life to Germans and citizens of other countries and serves as a bridge to overcome cultural differences. Outreach-KONTAKT has been an official USAREUR community relations program since 1969.

The Group High Achievement Awards recognizes the support provided by the local Outreach-KONTAKT clubs:

Outreach-KONTAKT Amberg Outreach-KONTAKT Bamberg BDAF (Federal Association of German-American Friendship) Outreach-KONTAKT Outreach-KONTAKT Berlin Outreach-KONTAKT Darmstadt Outreach-KONTAKT Fulda Outreach-KONTAKT Grafen wöhr Outreach-KONTAKT Heidelberg Outreach-KONTAKT Hohenfels Outreach-KONTAKT Nürnberg-Fürth Outreach-KONTAKT Stuttgart Outreach-KONTAKT Vilseck Outreach-KONTAKT Wiesbaden

The Volunteer Award (by category) goes to:

Group at Community with Military Presence – Outreach-KONTAKT Vilseck, for volunteering a total of 12,923 hours in 2011 Group at Community without Military Presence – Outreach-KONTAKT Fulda, for volunteering a total of 45,652 hours in 2011 Volunteer at Community with Military Presence – Thomas Esch, Outreach-KONTAKT Vilseck, for volunteering a total of 923 hours in 2011 Volunteer at Communit y without Military Presence – Winfried Jäger, Outreach-KONTAKT Fulda, for volunteering a total of 4,417 hours in 2011

The Individual High Achievement Award for non-members goes to:

Sgt. 1st Class Sonja Anderson, Bamberg Helmut Hartmann, Fulda Karin Hartmann, Fulda Edgar Fella, Fulda Sgt. Michael Brown, Heidelberg Linda Smith, Hohenfels Johann Krempf, Hohenfels Birgit Thompson, Stuttgart The Baseball and Sofball Club Mainz Athletics 1988 e.V., Wiesbaden The Individual High Achievement Award for members goes to:

Paul Grupp, Outreach-KONTAKT Bamberg Karin Grupp, Outreach-KONTAKT Bamberg Michael Zettner, Outreach-KONTAKT Bamberg Klaus Kirchhof, Outreach-KONTAKT Bamberg Capt. Petero Lole, Outreach-KONTAKT Bamberg Sarah Jendrzejewski, Outreach-KONTAKT Bamberg Heinz Bock, Outreach-KONTAKT Bamberg Mechthild Snippen, Outreach-KONTAKT Darmstadt Karin Jäger, Outreach-KONATKT Fulda Edward Don Day, Outreach-KONTAKT Fulda Birgit Voit, Outreach-KONTAKT Grafenwöhr Monika Schön, Outreach-KONTAKT Grafenwöhr Harald Weber, Outreach-KONTAKT Grafenwöhr George Holland, Outreach-KONTAKT Grafenwöhr 1st Sgt. Tracy Woodard, Outreach-KONTAKT Grafen wöhr Sgt. Francis M. Duras, Outreach-KONTAKT Grafenwöhr Ines Wendt, Outreach-KONTAKT Grafenwöhr Nadine Schröder, Outreach-KONTAKT Grafen wöhr Jochen Graser, Outreach-KONTAKT Grafenwöhr Alyssa McBride, Outreach-KONTAKT Hohenfels Annette Stanis, Outreach-KONTAKT Hohenfels Ethel Nativi, Outreach-KONTAKT Hohenfels Florian Fischer, Outreach-KONTAKT Hohenfels Martina Kellner, Outreach-KONTAKT Hohenfels Sgt. 1st Class John Arreglado, Outreach-KONT AKT Hohenfels Andreas Kirschenbauer, Outreach-KONTAKT Hohenfels Alexandra Klook, Outreach-KONTAKT Stuttgart Lisa Caylor, Outreach-KONTAKT Vilseck Klaus Schoenhofer, Outreach-KONTAKT Vilseck Jessica Loveland-Betchy, Outreach-KONTAKT Vilseck Florian Hochholdinger, Outreach-KONTAKT Vilseck Engelbert Mayer, Outreach-KONTAKT Vilseck Dieter König, Outreach-KONTAKT Vilseck Capt. Brandon Cummings, Outreach-KONT AKT Vilseck Andrea König, Outreach-KONTAKT Vilseck Maj. Robert Hoover, Outreach-KONTAKT Vilseck Susan Goekeler, Outreach-KONTAKT Vilseck Staff Sgt. Frederick Kilpatrick, Outreach-KONT AKT Vilseck Sgt. Joshua Dwyer, Outreach-KONTAKT Vilseck Monika Esch, Outreach-KONTAKT Vilseck Staff Sgt. Christopher Padgett, Outreach-K ONTAKT Vilseck Ryan Miller, Outreach-KONTAKT Vilseck Ursula and Tim LaBrie, Outreach-KONTAKT Vilseck Barbara Hennig, Outreach-KONTAKT Wiesbaden Brigida Leisering, Outreach-KONTAKT Wiesbaden

The awards will be presented Aug. 4 at the 27th Annual Outreach-KONTAKT Awards Banquet.

About us: U.S. Army Europe is uniquely positioned to advance American strategic interests across Eurasia and has unparalleled capability to prevent conflict, shape the environment and, if necessary, win decisively. The relationships we build during more than 1000 theater security cooperation events in more than 40 countries each year lead directly to support for multinational contingency operations around the world, strengthen regional partnerships, and enhance global security.