Gov. Josh Stein probably could not have selected a more appropriate venue Wednesday than Fayetteville Technical Community College to sign a proclamation declaring North Carolina as a Do Your Part state, which is a joint initiative between Blue Star Families and the National Governors Association.
“We are a Top 10 designation Military Friendly School for our military and spouses,” FTCC President Mark Sorrells said. “And we’re No. 5 for large community colleges nationwide.”
Of about 31,000 students enrolled at the sprawling campus along Hull Road, Sorrells said, about 35% are active duty and veterans. FTCC also has satellite education facilities in Spring Lake and Fort Bragg. Sorrells noted a litany of FTCC programs, which assist active-duty personnel, veterans and military family members pursuing civilian vocations, including Transition Tech, which provides training for service members preparing to retire or leave their respective military service; a Veterans Center; and a Fort Bragg Education Training Center located on the nearby military post.
“Just as service members and their families have served us, we must serve them,” Stein said before signing the proclamation. “Supporting military families and ensuring they can focus on their core mission to keep us safe is critical to our nation’s security, and the right thing to do. I am grateful that North Carolina is a Do Your Part state, and I am proud to reaffirm our state’s commitment to being a top state for military families.”
Stein, according to his office, has signed into law four bills this year, which will assist service members and their families transfer their professional motor vehicle driver’s license from out of state, making it easier to remotely renew drivers’ licenses, aiding parents enrolling their children in public schools and helping military students afford tuition in the University of North Carolina System.
Blue Star Families was founded in 2009 by Kathy Roth-Douquet, who also can tell you about being the wife of a serviceman, according to a published report. Roth-Douquet knows all about deployments and her husband’s assignment to eight military installations.
Blue Star Families is a national nonprofit organization that supports military families, aka Blue Star families, through the challenges of military life and connecting them with communities where they live during service members’ military assignments.
Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Gwendolyn Bingham also joined the governor in support of the Do Your Part state initiative.
“This initiative isn’t just about families. It benefits all,“ said Bingham, who is chair of the Blue Star Families board of directors. “Military families have frequent moves and transitions. Because of Kathy’s vision more than 16 years ago, Blue Star Families has grown to become the nation’s largest organization supporting military families in places where they serve. Your proclamation today, governor, says you see them and hear them.”
Bingham said she and her military husband once were stationed on Fort Bragg, and their first child was born at Womack Army Medical Center.
Military wife embraces governor’s words
The governor’s proclamation was welcome news for Jessica Strong, a 40-year-old wife and mother of three who can tell you about military life.
“We’ve moved six times,” Strong told those in attendance about what the governor’s announcement means in helping military families navigate the struggles of isolation and alienation when Uncle Sam calls. “My oldest child has attended seven different schools.”
Strong says her husband has been deployed to foreign soil eight times and the couple has known its share of different military base assignments.
“We’ve spent a lot of time apart,” Strong said. “We have moved a lot.”
Every move has its challenges, especially finding the right schools for your children, and all the more when you are parents of youngsters with special needs when it comes to the classroom. You just don’t find a school and send the children you love on their way, and hope for the best.
Strong’s children are ages 16, 14 and 11.
Two attend Jack Britt High School. The youngest attends John Griffin Middle School. Two of her children, she says, struggle with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and one is autistic.
“Sometimes it takes a while, but I can tell the teachers what they need,” Strong said about her children’s education requirements. “This gives a heads up.”
It’s all the more reason why Strong welcomes being a part of Blue Star Families and champions the governor’s proclamation.
Epilogue
Sen. Val Applewhite, Rep. Frances Jackson and Rep. Mike Colvin were among state legislators from Cumberland County attending Wednesday’s announcement. Others included Mayor Mitch Colvin, City Council members Mario Benavente and Courtney Banks-McLaughlin and Cumberland Board of County Commissioners Kirk deViere and Glenn Adams.
Jackson said the governor’s initiative had personal meaning.
“I had two brothers who served in the U.S. Army and U.S. Marines,” she said. “Their families would have benefited from Blue Star Families programs when my brothers were deployed in Desert Storm.”
Local and statewide elected officials and community leaders at the Do Your Part campaign signing on Aug. 6, 2025. (Credit: Tony Wooten / CityView)
Kirk deViere appreciated the proclamation, too.
“The Do Your Part initiative, backed by Blue Star Families, is exactly what we need — real action, not just words,” said deViere, the commissioners’ chair and an Army veteran who served from 1989-2000. “North Carolina has always been a military state, but this initiative shows we’re not taking that for granted. We’re actually investing in making sure families want to stay here after their service ends. That’s how you build a strong military community. By supporting the whole family, not just the uniform.
“Gov. Stein gets it when he says serving changes everyone’s life — the service member and the family.
“And it’s fitting he made this announcement here in Cumberland County,” deViere, a former state senator, said, “right next to Fort Bragg, the center of the military universe.”
Bill Kirby Jr. can be reached at billkirby49@gmail.com or 910-624-1961.
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