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Soldiers’ Angels Sacramento VA Community Team Blog
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Soldiers’ Angels ‘Thank You for Your Service’ Event Team
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Gerard Johnson—Videographer With a BA Psychology, Gerard is currently expanding his education by currently attending Cosumnes River College as a Digital Media Major. He is an active member of Access Sacramento Projects. His professional video career is already impressive… he has produced, filmed and edited a mini-documentary; edited wrestling video class projects; created promotions using After Affects; edited commercials and movie trailers using After Affects and Final Cut; worked on a crew to film sporting events with Access Sacramento; worked as camera grip, technical director and camera man; produced and created radio shows; and worked as on-air talent (internet Radio). |
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Kim Parigoris—Volunteer Manager Angel Kim has been married to John for 27 years. Originally from Pennsylvania, she relocated to California in 1978. She’s an Operations Manager at a concrete construction company in Rancho Cordova and has been in the industry since 1979.
Kim is from a military family; daughter of an Army officer, sister to 25-year retired Air Force member and 2 of her aunts served in the military in WW2. She is an adamant supporter of our men and women in the military and her volunteer work at Mather is the highlight of her week.
Since the onset of the Iraq war, Kim has sponsored 6 soldiers through Soldiers’ Angels and have found it to be extremely rewarding. “I hope there comes a day soon when that won’t even be necessary, but until then we’ll keep pressing on!”
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Michelle Gong—Marketing & PR Manager Michelle Gong joined Infuze Marketing to manage the event marketing aspect of the company’s diverse services. Michelle’s responsibilities include operation management, event planning, coordination, management and budget management. In addition, she is looking forward to studying for the Certified Special Events Professional (CSEP) Exam. While studying for her Bachelor’s degree at San Francisco State University in Marketing and International Business, Michelle spent a number of years in sports event management and hospitality and restaurant marketing. Currently, Michelle is a board member of Big Brothers Big Sisters – Greater Sacramento and member of the Roseville-Sunrise Rotary Club. Michelle and her team at Infuze Marketing will be helping to develop all our collateral materials and will be handling all our PR efforts for the event. She will also assist corporate sponsors as required.
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Colleen Fay— Co-Chair, Wounded Warrior Athlete Recruiter Colleen was born and raised in California. Her pioneer family settled in San Francisco in 1845. Early on, Colleen had an interest in Victorian architecture, farming and law. After graduating high school, she went on to attend Sacramento area colleges majoring in Agriculture, Business and Legal Assisting. She graduated Phi Theta Kappa High Honors with a degree in Legal Assisting. In addition to previously owning agriculture related businesses, Colleen has received specialized training in Administrative Law and Real Estate. She currently works as a Specialty Business Consultant where she can put her diverse educational and experiential background to use.
Colleen states her parents always made patriotism and love of country priorities in her and her sibling’s upbringing. Her father was a Navy medic in the Korean War, and her desire to honor him after his death is what led her to her current level of involvement in troop and veteran support. Colleen is an active member of Soldier’s Angels organization and Patriot Guard Riders and can often be found standing in flag lines for welcome homes or mailing care packages to her “guys, gals and hospitals” as she puts it. Additionally, she claims membership and/or association with several other organizations including; Veterans Community Service Network, The Navy League, Move America Forward, Veteran’s Village and Voluntary Legal Services of Sacramento. She is the liaison/event coordinator for Wreaths Across America for the Yountville Veterans Home and Cemetery.
When asking Colleen what the future holds for her she said “when people ask what I’ll do when the war is over, I say, work harder!” She recognizes there is tremendous need not only for our current veterans but our future veterans as well. “We need to act now so that no one gets left behind or falls through the cracks. They have earned more and deserve better.” |
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Joshua Steward—Co-Chair, Wheelchair Baseball Team Captain & Wounded Warrior Athlete Recruiter
An OIF veteran, Joshua is in training for our event and actively recruiting Veterans to join his wheelchair softball team. He will also be featured in our event video. |
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Colleen is responsible for spreading the word across Northern California to all our wounded warriors to attend our event. |
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Gerard will be producing a video portrait of our wounded warriors, the event and the role sports plays in their lives. |
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Kim is responsible for managing all volunteers at the event to insure our guests are all properly supported and having a great day. |
