Three Iowa employers received the first-ever Iowa Freedom Awards in a ceremony Sept. 9 with Governor Chet Culver, Barry Spear, chairman of the Iowa Committee of the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR), and other ESGR officials.
    Howard County was selected to receive the Iowa Freedom Award in the public employer category.
    The Iowa Freedom Award was created this year to recognize the exemplary ways Iowa employers support their National Guard and Reserve employees. The award is presented to three categories of employers: large employer (500 employers and over), small employer (499 employers and fewer) and the public sector (city, county and state).
    The State of Iowa will give out the award annually, and the Iowa Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (SGR) will present the award.
    Howard County has exceeded Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act requirements with a pay and benefits package for its military employees. County Supervisor Jan McGovern of Riceville accepted the award in Des Moines on behalf of the county.
    “Howard County has been supportive of military employees and made the process of being absent from work for military duty easy for these employees,” read a narrative presented at the awards ceremony in Des Moines.
    Nominations come from a Guard or Reserve member who is employed by the organization they are nominating, or from a family member.
    Dee Hosek, County Veterans Affairs Director and a 20-year veteran of the military, nominated Howard County for the award. Hosek also currently serves as the Command Sergeant Major for the 109th Medical Battalion. Hosek presented the award to the county at the Howard County Board of Supervisors meeting Monday.
    “I could not ask for a better or more supportive employer,” Hosek told the Supervisors.
    Other recipients of the 2008 Iowa Freedom Awards are: Musco Lighting of Oskaloosa, large employer, and Radio Communications of Waterloo, small employer.
    In addition to presenting the Iowa Freedom Awards, Governor Culver signed a Proclamation designating September 14 – 20 as Iowa Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve Week. 
    In signing the proclamation, Governor Culver said, “Iowa’s National Guard and Reserve forces serve our state and the country with distinction, responding when called upon in the global War on Terror as well as to the many humanitarian emergencies we have seen this year in our own state. By supporting our guardsmen and reservists, employers across Iowa are also helping to advance freedom and democracy around the world. That’s why we’re proud to sign this proclamation today and to recognize these three Iowa companies with the Iowa Freedom Award.”
    “We are proud of our National Guard and Reserve military members and in awe of the sacrifice they make for all of us,” said Barry Spear, chairman of the Iowa Committee of Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR).  “At the same time we recognize that employers are making sacrifices as well. The Iowa Freedom Awards are the highest recognition given in Iowa to employers for their support of their employees who serve in the National Guard and Reserve. We thank Governor Culver for signing a Proclamation designating Iowa ESGR week because it is important that the support of all Iowa employers of Guard and Reserve members be recognized.”
    ESGR is a Department of Defense agency tasked with gaining and maintaining employer support for those who serve in the National Guard and Reserve. ESGR achieves this mission by providing educational, consulting and mediation services to current and potential employers of Guard and Reserve members. For more information, go to http://www.iowaesgr.org.