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OJRV Team Member Corie Stevens Honored with Volunteer of the Year Award

On July 26, 2025, Operation: Job Ready Veterans (ORJV) team member Corie Stevens was honored with the Missouri National Guard (MONG) Volunteer of the Year award for her selfless service on behalf of the soldiers and families of three units. The event took place in Jefferson City, Missouri, and celebrated the accomplishments of the Soldier and Family Readiness Group (SFRG) volunteers, of which Corie is one.

Each year Corie partners with Operation Homefront to collect school supplies and Christmas gifts for the families of the Missouri National Guard. She collects the items, sorts them, and makes sure everyone receives something. For the time the award covers, Corie organized Christmas for three separate units, including one that was deployed. As she says, “Typically, SFRG works with one unit at a time, but there was a need.”

Corie also served as the SFRG volunteer for the deployed unit. Each deployed unit needs to have an SFRG volunteer to serve during their time away. Corie’s husband had been asked to be the unit’s Rear Detachment Commander for the duration of the deployment, and because she was already an SFRG volunteer, Corie stepped up to fill the required role. “They said they just needed someone to list on the paper, and I could do as little or as much as I wanted,” Corie says. “I said if I was being listed on the paper, I needed to do the task and do it well.” Volunteering to help that one unit snowballed into Corie serving three units. “There is always need among our armed forces. I was happy to help,” she says.

Help she did, throwing herself into the role and making sure those three units’ families had all the assistance they needed. Corie ensured families stayed up to date with the latest information and hosted barbeques complete with games, water slides, and bounces houses for the families. “During deployments situations can arise that the ones at home don’t know how to handle,” Corie explains. “I coordinated to make sure they had the help they needed.” She arranged to have lawns mowed, utility bills paid, tires changed out, and more. For one mother working long hours as a nurse and solo parenting three children during the deployment, Corie stepped in to help make sure their house move went smoothly. “I coordinated with soldiers from other units to help get the family moved out of their house as they had sold it and had to be out before the deployment ended,” she says.

Additionally, Corie did wellness checks on deployed family members, making sure that mental health resources and additional resources were available. She ensured children were making it to school and stepped in wherever and whenever she was needed. “We try to make sure our soldiers can focus on their task at hand and not worry about things back home they have no control over,” she says. Being able to be there, to give the support needed to families whose loved ones are deployed, is why Corie does what she does. “My volunteering is just a small way to give back to the men and women who sacrifice all for us to live the comfortable lives we do,” she explains. It brings her joy to know that she’s helping to take care of families during deployment so that “our soldiers can fully commit to their mission at hand.”

Corie’s selflessness and passionate dedication to our military families is one of the many reasons we love having her as part of the OJRV team. We are excited to see her being recognized for the amazing work she does and are proud to honor her accomplishments and the volunteer role she has taken on serving Missouri’s National Guard soldiers and their families.

Website: ojrv.org
Facebook: jobreadyvets
LinkedIn: job-ready-veterans

Media Contact Information
Jessica Bertsch
Operation: Job Ready Veterans
+1.757.773.7357
JBertsch@jobreadyvets.org

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