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Hometown Hero Serving on the Home Front Master Sgt. Minnie Hiller-Cousins of Passaic, N.J. (pop. 67,681), has spent most of her career helping others, both as a high school dropout prevention counselor and as a family assistance coordinator for die Army National Guard. Shes a blessing, says Jovannie Viilabol, who visited Hiller-Cousins office at the Teaneck (N.J.) Armory last year while her husband was serving in Iraq. Viilabol, 26, says Hiller-Cousins greeted her with a warm smile and a simple question. "How can I help you?" Viilabol recalls bursting into tears as she explained that she and her three children needed a place to live. Hiller-Cousins went to work, finding Viilabol an apartment with a free month's rent and arranging day care for her youngest child. “My job is to change a no into a yes with a breath of sunshine,” says Hiller- Cousins, 51, who joined the Army National Guard in 1978. ;"3j* I"' BjJS " Ml riPK jg * * Hiller-Cousins counsels a military family in Teaneck, N.J. When the 50th Main Support Battalion in Teaneck was deployed to Iraq in 2004, Hiller- t Cousins left her high school counseling job to become the battalion's full-time family assistance coordinator, working stateside as a liaison between the soldiers, their families and the community. As part of her duties, she coordinated the armory’s food pantry, provided counseling in its family readi ness and teen programs, and organized events rang ing from baby siiowers to trips for military families. In late 2005, she received permission to go to Iraq to visit her fellow soldiers. Widowed five years ago, Hiller-Cousins left behind her own five grown children and six grandchildren to spend four months in the desert. She recalls admiring soldiers asking, "Why re r you coming here, Ma? It’s dangerous here." by SUSAN M. ’ SIPPRELLE Photos hy Monika Graff if TOSfflte* o'** Sfadftg&fc* io into £ ? Jfx TV, i IvofisiinsKi ne/> :. V' Iff li WBr W!* jPO r- >; fv tti iWnW i* n Ml' mil Jovannie Viilabol (above, with her children) came to Master Sgt. Hiller-Cousins For Hiller-Cousins, the answer was simple. She wanted to be there, in person, to reassure soldiers about their tami v lies at home and help them prepare for challenges they facigues. She brought a National Guard chaplain to pray for Valentin’s recovery. would face when returning to civilian life. Today, most of the battalion’s troops have returned home, k In February, Hiller-Cousins returned to her g§k, counseling career at Passaic High School, where she likes to tell students, "It’s not where you start, but where you finish." When she began working at Passaic High School as a counselor in Noo the school’s dropout rate was 13 percent. In EjVliv 2005, the rate had fallen to 7 percent. “She’s constantly calking with scu ■SugNj dents,” says Carlist A. Creech, the school's ■HEJI principal. “She engages them and doesn't dfary lec chem go.” One of the many students she hel|sed was CA® Pedro Valentin, now 26. Hr While in high school, Valentin was seni le ously injured in a car accident and spent 13 days in a coma. One night, when he was still unconscious, Hiller-Cousins arrived at the hospital straight from the armory, dressed in her milicary Page 14 • www.americanprofile.com