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HONOLULU – A Coast Guard spouse was honored for her commitment to the military community during a ceremony at Honolulu City Hall and during the annual military appreciation game at Aloha Stadium, Oct. 31, 2012.
During each ceremony, Shannon Severance was named the 2012 Coast Guard Key Spouse for Hawaii and received certificates from the Hawaii State Legislature and City and County of Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle.
Severance, who has a deep love for the Coast Guard and the families who serve, also provided support for families outside her unit, ensuring any families in need had information necessary to meet the challenges of a military lifestyle in Hawaii.
The wife of Chief Petty Officer Charles Severance, Shannon is a full-time working mother and is the unit Ombudsman for Maritime Safety and Security Team Honolulu. Ombudsmen serve as a link between commands and families that help to ensure Coast Guard families have the information necessary to meet the challenges of a military lifestyle.
Severance organized monthly spouse night gatherings and coordinated several baby showers for first-time parents. She also leveraged her experience with military permanent change of station transfers, overseas tours and Coast Guard programs to help more than 20 families relocate from the mainland. In December, she coordinated a Christmas event called “Cookies with Santa”, where children enjoyed different activities and received gifts.
To further enhance communication between the command and the families, Severance regularly visited the unit and developed quarterly newsletters to keep families aware of unit activities and announcements.
Hawaii’s Outstanding Military Spouse Awards Program is sponsored by the Hawaii Navy League. This is the ninth year that the Navy League has taken the initiative to honor spouses of service members deployed abroad. The Key Spouse Award is presented annually to spouses of deployed service members and recognizes the recipients as volunteer communicators and organizational focal points for units deployed in support of combat operations.
The Coast Guard Ombudsman Program is a Coast Guard wide program established to help commanding officers and officers-in-charge better understand the welfare of the command and unit’s families. The program also helps to better prepare families to meet emergency situations.