DeCA’s Chester among recipients of SecDef Award for Outstanding Employees, Service Members with Disabilities
NOTE: To see a video of the ceremony on DVIDS, click here. Abigayle Chester’s award is presented at the 59:14 mark of the ceremony.
FORT GREGG-ADAMS, Va. – Abigayle Chester, a mission support clerk at the Defense Commissary Agency’s (DeCA) Lackland Air Force Base Commissary in Texas, was honored Oct. 26 as one of 23 recipients of the 2023 Secretary of Defense Awards for Outstanding Department of Defense Employees and Service Members with Disabilities.
The ceremony in the Pentagon’s Hall of Heroes marked 43 years of DOD recognizing its employees and service members with disabilities. Since 1981, the department has paused to honor those who have made significant contributions to its mission and who best demonstrate the core values of their respective DOD components.
“Abigayle Chester is a valuable asset and contributor to the Lackland team,” said Keith Dogan, store director at Lackland. “She’s always asking ‘What’s next?’ when she completes a task.”
Chester has worked at the Lackland store since 2009. She was diagnosed with an intellectual disability while still very young, and is also prone to seizures which may occur without warning.
“Over 13 percent of DeCA’s employees have disabilities and 2.71 percent have severe or ‘targeted’ disabilities,” said Kevin Hennelly, DeCA’s director of Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO). Those figures exceed DOD’s goal of hiring at least 12-percent of its permanent civilian workforce with a disability and at least 2-percent with a targeted disability.
“DeCA’s success as an employer of individuals with disabilities is the product of a team approach,” Hennelly added. “It starts with a person who, despite a disability, wants to make a contribution to military families by working for the agency. DeCA’s Human Resources team assists managers to place these employees in positions where they can thrive.”
“Our hiring process has streamlined opportunities for individuals with targeted disabilities to have a pathway to non-competitive hiring known as Schedule A,” said Tiffany Session, DeCA’s EEO disability program manager. “Collectively, the EEO office works with the Human Resources office to help recruit, hire and accommodate people with disabilities, furthering the path to equity for people with disabilities.”
“Abigayle is very proud of her achievement, as we all are for her many years of commitment to our service members,” said Dogan. “Her commitment to the Lackland commissary is remarkable and respected by her peers.”
Chester is a 1990 graduate of Klein High School in Spring, Texas.
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About DeCA: The Defense Commissary Agency operates a worldwide chain of commissaries providing groceries to military personnel, retirees and their families in a safe and secure shopping environment. Commissaries provide a military benefit, saving authorized patrons thousands of dollars annually on their purchases compared to similar products at commercial retailers. The discounted prices include a 5-percent surcharge, which covers the costs of building new commissaries and modernizing existing ones. A core military family support element, and a valued part of military pay and benefits, commissaries contribute to family readiness, enhance the quality of life for America’s military and their families, and help recruit and retain the best and brightest men and women to serve their country.