Kari and I have been married for 7 years. She has been through two deployments, one of which, she had our daughter while I was away. She worked full time, pregnant, and held down the fort with our 3 year old son. I know countless military spouses do this everyday but Kari is special. She cares so much for people. She is always meeting new friends.
She's passionate about domestic violence issues, having worked as the rape prevention educator here in Jacksonville, She has worked with troubled youth in our community. She loved her job and even when she lost it (due to state funding cuts) her passion didn't fade. She took trainings online and the most recent thing she has done is start a Jacksonville, NC Hollaback chapter. She is the site leader for Hollaback Jacksonville, which is a movement to bring awareness to street harassment. The local paper did an article on her and her efforts to stop street harassement. Kari believes that people deserve to be treated with respect and she devotes her life to this. She currently works full time and while also being the site leader to Hollaback. People have told her that changing the way society views street harassment is a big job and that it can't be done, but she won't stop. Im proud of her for that. She is fighting to bring awareness to this issue and its starting here in Jacksonville and its starting because Kari brought it here. She runs the website and the facebook page for Hollaback, collecting stories of street harassment from women. She is a support for them and is giving them a stage to tell thier story about harrassment. She believes that turning the focus off of the victims of harrassment and onto the people doing the harressing, will be empowering. And she's right. On top of working full time and caring for our home she is busy planning community outreach events for Hollaback. She doesn't get paid for running Hollaback, its all volunteer. Which shows where her heart is. She believes that there is good in this world and she is ready to bring it out. She's strong-willed, loving, and supportive. She deserves this for her hard work. She would be a voice for women, a voice for domestic violence issues and street harassment. She would bring these issues in the spotlight, and in doing so, would be helping so many women who feel alone. There are so many wonderful things about my wife, Please consider her for Military spouse of the year.
Hi there! My name is Kari Raack and I've been a military spouse for 7 years. What a ride its been! Im honored and humbled at the fact that my husband would even consider nominating me. We have 2 children, Nolan (5 years old) and Amelia (2 years old) They both bring so much happiness to our life. My husband is a United States Marine with 10 years of service.
The military has shaped our lives and our marriage. We've had good times and really, really trying times. Through it all our faith, family, and military friends (who are also our family) have been through it all with us. I couldn't imgaine my life without the military in it. It has given me experiences to meet amazing people and I've been placed in a city where great things can change.
Thank you for this chance, your support, and encouragement. God bless our military and our country.
entertain friends at our house. Running, reading, jumping on our trampoline, dinner at night with my family sitting around the table and sharing the best and worst parts of our day, and grocery shopping ( I know, strange, right)?!
Jesus, he is my Lord and savior. Im also a huge fan of anything Ohio-which means Ohio State buckeyes!!
bullying. I can't stand that some people feel they need to put others down just so they can feel better. I also can't stand to do the dishes ;)
What an honor it would be to be Military Spouse of the year. I know every spouse deserves to have this title. I would want to be MSOY mainly as a platform to bring issues such as street harrassment and domestic violence in the spotlight. To help the new Hollaback Jacksonville chapter, grow and become a useful tool to women, youth, and the LGBT community. I would want to meet all kinds of different people and hear thier stories of abuse or violence and how they have overcome it. I admire these people. Im proud to be a Military spouse. Its not easy and its not for everyone. I belive that women are strong and Military spouses are special people. We become friends quickly and then those friendships turn into family. We are here, holding things together when our husbands are away, we might not always like it but we do it. We do it for our husbands and we do it for our children but the truth of the matter is we couldn't get through it without the support of each Military Spouse. I want to meet as many of these amazing women as I can and in doing so, talk about important issues and bring awareness to domestic violence and street harassment. I am grateful for your encouragement and support! God bless our military, our children and our country.
To some this may sound strange or even silly but the first thing that came to my mind when I read this question is this...I would go back to the time when Rosa Parks decided not to sit at the back of the bus. I would go back to that time because I would support her fully. I admire her. She was an educated woman who had had enough. She was part of a change and that is something that I want to be a part of. A change for the better. A world that is safer and where people are treated and respected as individuals.
I love my military spouse family. I at times couldn't make it through a day without them. Military spouses are such a strong breed of women. There is a lot of support for spouses during a deployment and homecoming from a deployment. There can always be more. More support to spouses who are far away from home and raising chidren. I would love to be able to partner with base schools and family advocay to design programs focused on children. To form groups and clubs in the base schools educating children on safe dating, rape prevention and street harassment. To partner with spouses and families to help start the dating conversation that can be so hard to have. Classes for spouses to spot signs that their child could be in an unhealthy relationship and what they can do about it. I would like to see the services that are already in place be utilized and made more easily available.
Kari Raack
