The Foreign Service Journal, December 2020

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | DECEMBER 2020 43 as with the numerous TDYers who came to support us after the tragic events of the terrorist bombings.” “To me, a post is all about the sense of community and the development of kinship from shared experience,” she adds. “It really doesn’t matter where you are in the world; it’s the people you are with who make the difference. I have always tried to be an active member of my community during my years as a military spouse and now as part of the Foreign Service. While I have never felt underrecognized, this award is validation that the importance I place on community is also appreciated and valued by others.” Ms. McCoy, who hails from Iowa, is currently serving as the RSO OMS for U.S. Consulate Dubai. She and her husband, Shannon, were posted as a military family at embassies in Accra, Kyiv, Moscow and Nairobi before she joined the State Depart- ment Foreign Service as a specialist in 2018. As a military spouse, she had her own business as a dance and fitness instructor. The couple have two sons: Brendan, a newly commissioned naval officer, and Aidan, a freshman at Iowa State University. M. Juanita Guess Award for a Community Liaison Office Coordinator Jennifer Mauldin Building a Support Network During COVID-19 W hen the COVID-19 pandemic hit Pakistan, Karachi became the epicenter of the disease. Fifty percent of the consulate’s American staff there left on authorized departure. Eighty percent of its local staff began tele- working from home or went on authorized leave. Fortunately, Community Liaison Office Coordinator Jennifer Mauldin was there to help. “One would think it would be impossible to maintain com- munity with half of your American staff back in the United