Eloise Ogden/MDN Master Sgt. Asua Rose, right, contact person for the Adopt-An-Airman program, and Airman 1st Class Alicia Richards, who has participated in the program, are shown by the 5th Bomb Wing Headquarters building at Minot Air Force Base.

MINOT AIR FORCE BASE – Alicia Richards didn’t know anyone when she arrived at Minot Air Force Base in July 2021 for her first military assignment after Air Force basic training and technical school.

When Richards, now with the rank of airman first class, heard about the Adopt-An-Airman program when she was going through First-Term Airmen’s class at Minot AFB, she decided to take part in the program.

“I figured might as well. It might be fun,” Richards said.

She was matched with a Minot couple. Richards, who is an Emergency Management apprentice with the 5th Civil Engineer Squadron at Minot AFB, said it was a good thing to do and a benefit to her to get to know the area with her adopted family.

The base Adopt-An-Airman program was kicked off in 2020 by Chief Master Sgt. Miranda Minshew. Originally it was for anyone coming in to Minot to have someone to talk to because there was a restriction on movement due to the COVID-19 pandemic, said Master Sgt. Asua Rose, program point of contact at Minot AFB.

“Like a sponsor in a sense,” she said.

Later the program began focusing on first-term airmen and a partnership was formed with the Minot Area Chamber of Commerce EDC’s Military Affairs Committee.

Rose, originally from Little Rock, Arkansas, arrived at the Minot base in Dec. 17, 2015, and there was more than two feet of snow on the ground and cold. She said it was quite a wake-up call compared to Germany, where she was previously stationed, but she had her family.

“Yes, it was cold in Germany but it doesn’t compare to here,” she said. She said first-term airmen “may be single, some have families, but they may not know who to reach out to and then we also want them to get out into the community and experience what Minot truly has to offer.”

Rose and Master Sgt. Michael Butler are points of contact for the program at the Minot base.

The program gives a local family the opportunity to share their life with an airman while helping the airman get acquainted with the local community. A family might also be from the base.

Currently, 19 airmen are in the program. Of those, Rose said five families each have adopted two airmen.

“We want to expand it, but it’s all on voluntary basis,” she said.

Rose’s work to get adopted families for the program includes going to the First-Term Airmen Center once a week to give a briefing to a class on the Adopt-An-Airman Program.

Richards, originally from Pensacola, Florida, said after she learned about the Adopt-An-Airman Program she filled out for the program information about herself such as her interests, what type of food she likes and what she would be interested in doing with an adopted family.

“I was a little nervous when I was going to first meet my family but they’re amazing,” she said. Richards and her adopted family spent several months together until the family moved out of state recently.

Richards said one of the first activities she and her adopted family did was attend a play at the Mouse River Players’ theater in downtown Minot.

“I didn’t even know there was a theater here so that was new,” she said. “We also went to see a few of the Minotauros hockey (games). That was my first, maybe my second, hockey game that I’ve ever gone to.

“We probably ate at almost every (stressing” every“) restaurant here,” she said. She said her adopted family had her try different foods, something she doesn’t normally do.

“I’m not really experimental when it comes to food. I have my favorites. I stick with them. But we tried the Thai food here. That was good, it actually surprised me,” she said. “Also I spent my first Christmas here with them. I had called my parents back home. I went to church with them (adopted family) and after that they took me home and we had a dinner together, we played games and they even got me a little Christmas gift.”

“They also took me to see the lights (at Oak Park). That was really cool. I was surprised,” Richards said.

“After we first met, we hit it off very well,” Richards said.

She said her adopted family also adopted another airman, a friend of Richard’s. “We would go out and do things together,” she said.

Overall, Richards said the Adopt-An-Airman Program was a good experience for her.

“I would say so, even when I was first getting my Minot legs, if you will, and learning my way around here. They were very helpful, pointing out things to do and just getting valuable knowledge about the area,” she said, adding, “They are very caring people.”

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How to become an adopted family

Those interested in becoming an adopted families with the Adopt-An-Airman program can contact Master Sgt. Asua Rose at 723-4429 or email her at teamminot

aaa@gmail.com.