March 11, 2006 – Employers of employees deployed in the National Guard will be honored for their continuing support efforts at the St. Thomas-St. John Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours at 5 p.m. March 23 at Paradise Point in Havensight.
The event will be co-hosted by the V. I. Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (VI-ESGR) and the Navy League of St. Thomas. League president Thomas Hoffman will be the evening's host.
The VI-ESGR is a federal Department of Defense agency whose mission is getting and maintaining support of National Guard members from public and private employers.
"We have employers who continue their employee's insurance when they are deployed," said Emmett Hansen II, VI-ESGR executive director. "Still others contribute to the National Guard activities or have internal policies which protect the deployed individuals. We have to ensure that these businesses and individuals know that we appreciate their efforts."
Hansen said the employers will receive the Defense Department's "Above and Beyond" award, which recognizes employers who go the extra mile in supporting the Army National Guard and the Air National Guard and their reserve units.
"I think we have the best employers of guardsmen in the world here in the Virgin Islands," Hansen said. "With our community as small as it is, it makes my heart glad to see the support extended as our men and women go off to war or other missions."
The event is open to the public.

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