(Seguin) — Seguin’s unit of the Guadalupe Valley Young Marines is not going unnoticed throughout the country. The local unit has been named as the Unit of the Year for Division 4. The Guadalupe Valley Unit was chosen out of the eight states that make up the division. Not only was the unit named the top group but its Unit Commander and Founder Dina Dillon has also managed to gain recognition by being named as this year’s Adult Volunteer of the Year for Division 4. Division 4 includes the states of Texas, Louisiana, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Wyoming and Arkansas.
The Young Marines organization, itself, is divided into six divisions across the United States. Both the unit and Dillon will now go on to compete for the national title during the Adult Leaders Conference in Orlando scheduled for May 15-19.
The mission of the Young Marines is “to positively impact America’s future by providing quality youth development programs for boys and girls that nurtures and develops its members into responsible citizens who enjoy and promote a healthy, drug-free lifestyle.”
Dillon says the Guadalupe Valley Young Marines (GVYM) youth program currently includes 14 kids (eight boys and six girls) ranging in age from nine to 15 and six adult volunteers.
Celebrating their 10 years of existence, Dillon says they are extremely excited to represent not only their Division, but the city in this competitive competition, voted on by Commanders representing the eight states that are part of the Division.
“For us to actually get there, it’s actually taken us 10 years worth of fighting and crawling and doing everything we can for the community to get recognized. This being our 10 year anniversary, it is pretty exciting that we were chosen and we are such a small unit and for myself, I have been a part of the program for so long that this is the first time ever that I’ve been the Division Adult Volunteer of the Year so I’m ecstatic and so excited to represent everybody from our division because it’s a big award and its exciting, said Dillon.
Dillon says locally, the young members have volunteered over 400 hours to the community. She says those hours are spent assisting local programs with such things as color guards, cleaning up, assisting to park cars or passing out water. She say they also annually conduct flag retirement ceremonies and assist in the annual POW/MIA ceremony.
As for her own efforts in chartering the local organization in 2009, Dillon says it’s been a real honor — an honor that has extended well past her initial vision for the program.
“I have four sons that have been through the program and my youngest now is in college. He is a sophomore and so I continued on volunteering and I see the benefits. This year actually, it’s been 17 years that I’ve been volunteering, 10 years for our local unit after starting it and I just see benefits. Even if a child doesn’t stay in the program the whole time to graduate or as we call it, retire out of the program once they graduate high school and even if for a short time, I know it means we’ve planted a seed for them to make a positive impact on themselves and their community and so I feel fortunate to be a part of a program that can do that and offer that to kids,” said Dillon. “I am proud to represent our Division at the National event. There are so many volunteers that give of their time I’m very humbled to be chosen to represent them in May.”
Among the highlights for the local program is GVYM’s 2016 representation of Seguin at the 75th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.
The group also received a national award last year for its Drug Demand Reduction (DDR) efforts in the local area — earning the Enrique
“Kiki” Camarena Division Award.
The Young Marines is a national non-profit 501c (3) youth education and service program for boys and girls, age eight through the completion of high school. The Young Marines promotes the mental, moral and physical development of its members. The program
also focuses on teaching the values of leadership, teamwork and self-discipline, “so its members can live and promote a healthy, drug-free
lifestyle.”
The national program currently has approximately 300 units and serves just over 9,000 kids. Those wishing to enroll in the local Seguin Unit are encouraged to visit www.gvyoungmarines.com.