The Association of the United States Army selected Maj. Craig Young, an exercise planner with U.S. Army Europe and Operation Atlantic Resolve, his wife, Lisa, and their three children – Zachary, Abigail and Benjamin – to receive the 2016 AUSA Volunteer Family of the Year Award.

This annual award recognizes an exceptional family whose volunteerism has contributed significantly to the well-being of the Army community.

The award will be presented to the Youngs at the opening ceremony of the Association’s Annual Meeting and Exposition, on Monday, Oct. 3, in Walter E. Washington Convention Center, Washington, D.C.

The Youngs joined the Wiesbaden Military Community in 2011, shortly before Craig was to deploy with V Corps to Afghanistan.

With Craig preparing to deploy, Lisa seized the opportunity to volunteer in their new community.

She began volunteering heavily with the local schools, becoming an Elementary School Room Mom, helping plan events and becoming active in the high school’s booster program.

The entire family also got involved with volunteering, applying their particular skills or passions to benefit the community’s schools.

When Craig returned from his deployment to Afghanistan, V Corps was slated for inactivation.

The personnel departures the inactivation would bring posed a major difficulty for Cub Scout Pack 65, the local pack that the Youngs had been involved with. In response to this the Youngs stepped up to help support the pack, providing their time, energy and leadership to help bolster the pack’s activities and numbers.

Craig serves as the cub master and Lisa serves as the pack’s secretary, with both serving in a variety of roles in the Barbarossa District and Transatlantic Council of the Boy Scouts of America.

The children have also been actively involved, both as members of the Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts and through volunteering for events with their siblings and parents.

Their efforts have helped double the size of Pack 65, especially notable when many of the other packs in the area have been struggling.

The Young family has received a great deal of recognition for their commitment to service.

Craig has received the Captain Paul E. Garber Award for his leadership in chartering a local Civil Air Patrol, as well as a Boy Scouts of America Unit Leader’s Award of Merit.

Lisa has received the Boy Scouts of America Cub Scout Leader’s Training Award, and Abigail has received the Girl Scouts of America’s Bronze Award.

Additionally, the Boy Scouts of America Barbarossa District, that the entire family volunteers to support, was named the 2016 USAG Wiesbaden Private Organization of the Year.

Through consistent volunteer work and a dedication to service, the Youngs have shown their willingness to go above and beyond in order to help others. It doesn’t get better than that!

Q & A with the Young family:

Can you give us one word to describe your family?

“Invested.”

What or who inspires you to serve our military community?

Military children.

Craig and I volunteer in the programs Zachary, Abigail, and Benjamin enjoy participating in so we can spend more time together and in some cases, to keep a program going for all of the military children in our community.

Now that Zachary, Abigail, and Benjamin are older they understand and appreciate how volunteering helps everyone.

We feel by investing our time and effort into the military children in our community that we are teaching them how much they matter and how important their programs are to keep continuity in their lives.

Being overseas in Europe, there is a unique challenge for our military children to be able to have the same programs available as they would have in the States.

In most cases, off-post programs are not an option overseas.

What advice would you give a young military family?

To get out there into the community and volunteer.

There are many opportunities to help military children learn right from wrong such as coaching, scouting, or volunteering in the schools and chapels. Get involved and give back the time and effort that was given to you as a child!

What aspect of military life do you enjoy the most?

We enjoy meeting other military families and families from around the world! Each family we meet brings new friends, new traditions, lessons learned and new life experiences for our whole family.

AUSA thanks ENGILITY Corporation for sponsoring this award.