Representative C. W. Bill Young joined in ceremonies this afternoon to break ground on a USO Center at Tampa International Airport that will be available to traveling service members and their families.
"This is the least we can do to show our support and thank our troops as they travel to and from the Tampa Bay area," Young said. "With MacDill Air Force base and the joint commands in our area, as well as the large Guard and Reserve presence in our area, thousands of service members transit through the airport every day and they deserve a place to relax and to provide assistance when necessary."
Young said the effort to bring a USO center to the area was a tremendous community wide effort led by Walter Lamerton and the Tampa Bay Board of the USO, as well as the Tampa International Airport Director Joe Lopano and his Board of Directors and hundreds of local veterans and veterans organizations.
The new USO operation will open this summer and will be staffed by USO volunteers. Representative Young noted in a letter to the USO last year seeking its approval for the new Tampa center that this would be the first one approved in over 10 years and would be a welcome addition to Tampa Bay area which "houses MacDill Air Force Base, one of the busiest VA hospitals in the country, and is home to nearly 458,000 veterans and 50,000 active duty and reserve personnel. It has been estimated that the USO will be able to serve approximately 1,100 additional military members that travel through Tampa International Airport each day."
"We should do everything we can to make sure that our military members have the best experience possible when they travel and this new USO Lounges will help by providing a space for them to call home during their time at TIA," Young said.
Read this original document at: http://young.house.gov/press-release/representative-young-attends-ground-breaking-ceremony-tampa-uso-lounge
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