Serving Those Who Serve

U.S. Army veteran and Kraken fan Matt Wagner leaned back in his ice-level seat as the team practiced in front of him, reflecting on sacrifices made by current and former military members like him in defense of their country.

Olympia resident Wagner, 49, medically retired from the Army in 2015, drew plenty of attention from fans around him watching the team’s workout last Sunday on Military Appreciation Day at Kraken Camp, pres. by Starbucks Coffee Company. He’d brought his miniature horse service animal, Apollo, to help cope with myriad physical issues, including balance problems wrought by chronic knee and back injuries suffered during a 22-year military career.

But that career, taking him to 14 different countries and other places nationwide, also took a toll on his wife of 24 years, Chantell, 48, and their young family as they coped with his prolonged absences.

“The first year we were married, we barely saw each other,” Wagner said. “So, not only am I not around, but she’s all alone, struggling to make friends and have people around who understand what she’s going through.”

It’s to honor and help families such as theirs dealing with the strains of relocation that Starbucks has partnered with the Kraken on a season-long Military Commitment initiative that launched with Sunday’s event at the Kraken Community Iceplex. This marks a transition for Starbucks, who previously supported the Kraken Unity Fund and will now support a number of military initiatives to align with their commitment to contribute positively to communities – notably, supporting action and programs for the military and Veteran communities that are rooted in opportunity and inclusion. Upcoming events include a Military Appreciation Night, pres. by Starbucks at the team’s Nov. 12 home game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, as well as a Military Community Day for service members and their families at the Community Iceplex at a to-be-determined date.

Starbucks will also be making their annual $50,000 Puck Drop donation this season to Blue Star Families, the first and largest community-based military family support organization. The coffee company and Blue Star Families have partnered since 2015 on initiatives connecting military families with their neighbors and with resources to help them thrive within communities.

“We want to be supportive,” Starbucks senior manager of partnerships June Ashley said, adding the new Kraken initiative is part of her company’s broader “Serving Those Who Serve’’ effort designed to raise awareness and support for military members and their families. “These families are being relocated often. And to be able to be there to support them and give them some comfort and familiarity within their communities is really important to us.”

Beyond the new initiative with the Kraken, Starbucks also does other service events with various community partners. Through Starbucks College Achievement Plan (SCAP), partners who are serving or have served in the military can extend the benefit to a family member for 100 percent up-front tuitition coverage for a first-time bachelor’s degree. And, of course, the company provides coffee donations to military families across country and the globe.

Dr. Nichole Ayres, a representative for Blue Star Families attending Sunday’s event, said the new Starbucks-Kraken initiative will further help the organization with programs that include a neighborhood app for families to find activities in new communities. This week is also Blue Star Welcome Week nationwide in support of up to 600,000 military families that relocate annually, with the group holding coffee and picnic gatherings locally for spouses and families of military members as well as a planned Joint Base Lewis McChord outing for children.

“It’s really important to create community because it can be really isolating,” said Ayres, clinic director of the Steven A. Cohen Military Family Clinic at Valley Cities – providing mental health services to current and former service members and their families – and whose husband recently retired from the military after 22 years. “When you’re moving from station to station, and you have to try to create new friends and new support systems everywhere you move, it can be really tough for military families and military kids to create that community.”

Army veteran Wagner and his wife, who attended Sunday’s practice with him and miniature horse Apollo, feel raising such awareness is important.

“Our first year of marriage we were maybe together for three months total,” Chantell Wagner said. “And that was broken up into little one-month chunks.”

Her husband moving to Washington and JBLM in the final decade or so of his career kept the couple together and made it easier to raise their children. Still, she added, the type of sacrifices they also put into his service often go unnoticed, which is why she feels it’s important to have things such as the team’s Military Commitment initiative with Starbucks.

“Events like this are good to let the military and military families know: ‘Look, we do care. We know what you’ve done for us, and we really appreciate it.’”

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