On top of meeting career and continuing education demands, one Marine Wing Headquarters Squadron 2 Marine volunteers more than 200 hours of his time each year helping young athletes grow. His wife has collected more than $4,000 worth of box tops to help Graham A. Barden Elementary School while working two jobs. With all of their volunteer work, this couple still makes time to raise four children.

It’s no wonder Gunnery Sgt. Todd A. McFarland, an Aviation Logistics Maintenance Assist Team member, and his wife Talina, an insurance broker secretary and home fragrance consultant, were recognized as the Havelock Military Affairs Committee Family of the Quarter at the Carolina Grill in Havelock on Wednesday.

Every day at quitting time, McFarland heads straight to school or to coach baseball . He spends his weekends play football and on Sundays he coaches at a Little League game.

Despite all he does for the community, McFarland had no idea he was even nominated for the award until recently. He was in Yuma, Ariz., when he got an e-mail asking him to write a biography for Wednesday’s ceremony. Stephanie Duncan, the executive director of the Havelock Chamber of Commerce, of which the MAC is a sub-committee, explained his selection.

“We give a list of criteria for the award,” Duncan said. “The criteria requires the Marine to be active in the community, but not only that. We also look for the family to be active in the community. We want to honor their service to the country as well as their service to the community.”

Though the award was unexpected, Todd McFarland was glad to be an inspiration to his children and the Marines under him.
“I just want to show them that whatever they want to accomplish, they can do,” McFarland said after receiving the award.

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