Commending Del Spafford on Receiving James M. Roche Spirit of Volunteerism Award

Floor Speech

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Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commend Del Spafford of DuBois, Pennsylvania, for receiving the 2023 James M. Roche Spirit of Volunteerism award.

The Roche award is the highest volunteer award given by the Department of Defense's office of Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve. The award calls attention to significant achievements made by volunteers in contributing to and accomplishing the ESGR mission of promoting cooperation between civilian employers and servicemembers of the National Guard and Reserve.

Since retiring as Battalion Commander from the famous 28th Division of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard, Spafford has demonstrated the spirit of patriotism and service.

For more than 34 years, Spafford has served the ESGR in many capacities and has the distinguished honor of being the longest continuing serving committee member in Pennsylvania.

Most notably, he has accumulated an astonishing 1,285 volunteer hours with the ESGR in the past 8 years alone while serving in a variety of overlapping roles.

I commend Del Spafford for earning the James M. Roche Spirit of Volunteerism Award for his commitment to our citizen soldiers and for his dedication to supporting military-civilian relations in north- central Pennsylvania.

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