Soldiers Helping Soldiers: AER campaign kicks off at Fort Leavenworth

Posted on

Prudence Siebert | Fort Leavenworth Lamp | March 13, 2025

FORT LEAVENWORTH, KANSAS — The 2025 Army Emergency Relief Campaign officially kicked off with a cake-cutting and program brief March 7 during lunchtime at the Solarium Buffet at the Frontier Conference Center.

AER is the Army’s nonprofit that provides assistance in the form of grants and interest-free loans to service members and their Families who are experiencing financial emergencies. AER also provides scholarships.

“This year we are going with the ‘250’ theme for the Army birthday, and we are asking, if you are willing, if you would like, to donate a minimum of $2.50 a month to AER,” Army Community Service Manager and AER Officer Reagan Sawyer told the noonday diners. “We do great things for our community; we do great things for everybody worldwide — there are some things that have been going on in our world with hurricanes and some fires, but this is what we’re here for.”

Fort Leavenworth Garrison Commander Col. Duane Mosier began his remarks talking about a fire that just a few days earlier on March 2 had displaced about 40 families living in apartments and destroyed the household goods of about 200 Families whose property was being stored in warehouses at Fort Cavazos, Texas. AER is offering $1,000 grants to assist Soldiers and Families who have been affected by the fire.

“North of 200 families now are in need, and AER is right there helping them,” Mosier said. “This program, this campaign right now, this is exactly why we give. This is why this program is so important — because Soldiers and their Families are in need every day around the world.”

The local goal is for 25 percent of Fort Leavenworth’s active-duty Soldiers to contribute to AER.

“I’m very proud today to donate,” Mosier said, who signed his AER pledge form before cutting a cake for the campaign kick-off. Mosier said he was also turning in a pledge form on behalf of Garrison Command Sgt. Maj. Vanessa Sun, who was TDY.

Contributors can designate an allotment with the AER pledge form; make a contribution online; donate with cash, check, money order or PayPal; or specify a donation for AER at the register when they make their purchases at the Post Exchange and other Army and Air Force Exchange Service facilities.

Last year, Fort Leavenworth donated $60,017 to AER, but $180,000 AER funds were loaned/given locally. AER funds were loaned to Fort Leavenworth Soldiers and Family members last year for emergency financial issues such as emergency travel, car repairs, the first month’s rent after a PCS move and food insecurities.

For more information about the Army Emergency Relief Campaign and the assistance offered through AER, visit https://leavenworth.armymwr.com/programs/army-emergency-relief-aer or contact Financial Readiness Program Manager/AER Officer JoJo Woods at josephine.woods3.civ@army.mil or 520-716-4951.

More on the 2025 AER Annual Campaign.

Reagan Sawyer, Army Community Service program manager, talks about Army Emergency Relief as Fort Leavenworth Garrison Commander Col. Duane Mosier fills out his AER pledge form during the annual campaign kickoff March 7, 2025, at the Frontier Conference Center at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. The AER campaign runs through June 14, 2025, with the local goal that donors contribute at least $2.50 per month, with at least 25 percent of the post’s active-duty soldiers contributing, in theme with the Army’s 250th anniversary this year. For more information, call 913-684-2800 or visit https://www.armyemergencyrelief.org/campaign (Photo by Prudence Siebert/Fort Leavenworth Lamp)
Maj. Jonathan Shaw, Special Troops Battalion executive officer and Army Emergency Relief campaign coordinator, talks about AER with Army Corrections Brigade soldiers, including Capt. Rich Rogers, B Company, U.S. Disciplinary Barracks Battalion (Corrections), as they eat their meal at the Solarium Buffet March 7, 2025, at the Frontier Conference Center at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. A cake was cut to signify the beginning of the AER Campaign, and slices were offered to diners during the midday kick-off event. (Photo by Prudence Siebert/Fort Leavenworth Lamp)
blocks-pb3-01