In farewell to McMorris Rodgers, Fairchild summit showcases progress, pitfalls for military families

Military families and their advocates gathered at Fairchild Air Force Base on Wednesday to share resources, reflect on the progress they have made and highlight the barriers that still make it hard for troops and their families to access adequate food, housing, employment and education.

The 16th Military Family Summit also served as a farewell to Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a retiring Spokane Republican who created the event in 2009 with Rep. Sanford Bishop, a Democrat from Georgia. The annual gathering has alternated between Fairchild and venues in Georgia, calling attention to the challenges facing service members, their spouses and their children.

“Obviously, we’ve made a lot of strides,” said former Spokane Mayor David Condon, who began his career in politics as an aide to McMorris Rodgers and now serves as a civilian aide to the secretary of the Army. “But we have work to do, to say the least.”

Unlike in years past, when the enlisted ranks of the U.S. military mainly included single men who lived on bases and ate their meals in mess halls, today’s all-volunteer military relies on troops with families who often struggle to afford off-base housing and food. At Fairchild, panelists discussed solutions to those challenges and more, including licensing reforms to help military spouses find work and programs to ease the transition between schools for children when service members relocate.

“All of this really does help inform our efforts on Capitol Hill,” McMorris Rodgers said. “To put service before self, to sacrifice so deeply and take on the challenge of being a military family, is inspiring. And you’ve inspired me today. You’re the reason that this is one of my favorite events each year.”

Several speakers expressed their gratitude to McMorris Rodgers, who co-founded the Congressional Military Family Caucus with Bishop and has introduced legislation based on discussions at past summits. The Spokane congresswoman has also been a leading advocate of people with disabilities, which she often attributes to raising her son Cole, who was born with Down syndrome.

McMorris Rodgers recalled how she and her husband Brian, a retired Navy officer, struggled to find a doctor for Cole who would accept TRICARE, the military’s health insurance.

Meg Graves, volunteer and outreach coordinator at Partners in PROMISE, a nonprofit that advocates for special education for military children, rose to thank McMorris Rodgers for her work over the years. Graves said the 2019 summit gave her group a platform to share the problems caused by frequent moves from state to state for families with children who rely on individualized education programs.

“There is still so much to do, but the change we have seen would not have happened without you,” Graves said. “You understand the challenges of caring for our most vulnerable children, and you give us the voice to improve our families’ quality of life.”

In three sessions, panelists discussed challenges military families face with child care, housing, children’s education and jobs for spouses.

The shortage of affordable housing near the base on the West Plains was made worse when the Gray Fire tore through Medical Lake in August 2023, destroying some 240 homes. Cheryl Steevens, who manages a housing program at Fairchild, said she lost her home in the fire and still lives in a camper.

Eric Williams of Second Harvest Inland Northwest, a network that supplies food banks across the region, was moved to tears when he recalled how a volunteer who lost his home in the Gray fire had still shown up to distribute food even when the man was living in his car.

After Williams said he wouldn’t “go political and say it’s crazy” that military families still rely on food pantries, Sgt. Maj. Troy Black, the senior enlisted advisor to the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, chimed in to agree that “no one serving our nation should qualify for welfare.”

Black noted that the military’s housing allowance has been increased more frequently in recent years than in the past. That is officially due to a review of military compensation the Pentagon conducts every four years and not because of action by members of Congress like Bishop and McMorris Rodgers, he said. Then Black gave an exaggerated wink to suggest that the lawmakers did, in fact, have an impact.

Black’s wife, retired 1st Sgt. Stacie Black, recalled how hard it was to raise a family amid six deployments in the 10 years after the couple’s military meet-cute, when they hit it off after she “ran him over” with her car, even though he left a dent in the hood.

“I never really saw a lot of support early on,” Stacie Black said, adding that the past several years have seen Congress and the Pentagon implement important resources for military families.

At the end of the event, McMorris Rodgers presented awards to recognize “unsung heroes” in the Fairchild community, including Aimee Wieland, a military spouse and former aide to the congresswoman who helped start the summit.

A handful of local elected Republicans attended the event, including Spokane County Commissioners Al French and Mary Kuney and Spokane County Treasurer Michael Baumgartner, who finished first in the Aug. 6 primary and is in pole position to replace McMorris Rodgers in Congress.

Bishop, who represents a largely rural district in southwestern Georgia that includes Fort Moore, presented McMorris Rodgers with a framed statement he had entered into the Congressional Record to recognize the congresswoman’s work for military families after she announced in February that she wouldn’t stand for re-election.

In remarks on Wednesday morning, Bishop said this year’s summit was “bittersweet” after working with McMorris Rodgers for so many years.

“We just really appreciate you, Cathy,” he said. “You have done so much for so many for so long.”