The Bellbrook High School AFJROTC received a Distinguished Unit Award for its community service work this past year.
The BHS unit was one of 244 units across the country to earn the award as they racked up nearly 1,600 community service hours between April of 2023 and 2024.
“I believe the cadets have done an outstanding job this year and have contributed a lot of their time to both their community and their school,” Lt. Col. Christine Gangaware said. “They’ve worked hard (and continue to work hard) and deserve this recognition.”
All cadets will receive a ribbon for the accomplishment and the program will receive a streamer to put in its display case.
The award requires 12 service hours per cadet to be worked, but the BHS squad worked an average of 21.31 hours each.
Across the country, more than 1.3 million community service hours were put in from all the JROTC organizations.
The unit began its work before the school year even began by helping with food service at Germanfest in downtown Dayton and with the Lion’s Club to set up booths for their yearly back-to-school festival.
Throughout the fall, the cadets ran a canned food drive for the Bellbrook-Sugarcreek Community Support Center (BSCSC). On seven Saturday mornings, they went door-to-door in about 20 neighborhoods and collected more than 10,000 non-perishable items. All items collected went directly onto the shelves at the BSCSC and into the homes of many local residents in need. The unit has been doing a food drive of this magnitude since it began.
“The leadership (at BSCSC) has told me many times that they would not get through the winter months without our help,” Gangaware said.
The unit also participated in a blood drive, does a weekly recycling collection at the high school and board offices and they work a hydration station at the Air Force Marathon. They assist the Boy Scouts lay wreaths on graves during the holidays, and assist other school organizations with their needs as well.
On top of that, they are the group that presents the flags at games – which was done more the 20 times, including at a Dayton Dragons game, and were part of the Veterans’ Day Ceremony at Bell Creek Intermediate. They also sang Christmas Carols at Dayton Childrens' and tons of other activities they rarely get recognized.