Photo By Petty Officer 2nd Class Christopher Koons | Sharon Featherstone, United States Charge' d' Affaires to Belize, shakes hands with...... read more read more
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CARIBBEAN SEA — Task Group 40.7 embarked onboard multi-purpose amphibious ship USS Wasp turned over thousands of textbooks to the government of Belize for distribution to schools in need of supplies during a ceremony in Belize City, Belize, Nov. 24.
The Downtown Jacksonville, Fla., Rotary Club was largely responsible for gathering, funding, and the logistical transfer of the books to Wasp while the ship was in Mayport, Fla., in October. The Jacksonville Rotarians worked in conjunction with other Rotary Clubs across the nation and the Consortium for Belize Educational Cooperation, which strives to strengthen and expand higher education through partnerships between institutions throughout the world and Belize schools.
The ceremony was attended by Sharon Featherstone, Charge d'Affaires for the U.S. Embassy in Belize, who thanked everyone involved for their efforts.
"It is a demonstration of good will put into action," said Featherstone. "This donation will have a very positive impact in Belize, and I'm very proud to be an American right now."
The donation totaled approximately 64 pallets of text books, which were donated to the "Books for Belize" Project of the Belmopan and Belize Rotary Club.
"The value of these books will be measured by the impact they make upon the lives of the children of Belize," said Featherstone. "It's an example of the great work that can be accomplished through partnership."
The best part of the textbook donation is the durability of the Rotarian books as opposed to typical textbooks used by Belizean schoolchildren, said Jane Hail, a volunteer with the Cornerstone Foundation, which helps coordinate aid work in countries such as Belize.
"Because of this donation, schoolchildren here will have hard-covered text books which will last three years," said Hail.
All of these groups, as well as those who contributed the supplies, should be honored for their efforts, said Cmdr. Dean Hoelz, Wasp's command chaplain.
"The ceremony was a wonderful opportunity to have interactions between all the different people and agencies who contributed to this event, including the Navy and Rotarians," said Hoelz. "They all contributed to its success and should be proud."
Wasp is currently deployed on Southern Partnership Station-Amphib 2009 with Destroyer Squadron 40 and embarked Security Cooperation Marine Air-Ground Task Force. SPS is part of the Partnership of the Americas Maritime Strategy that focuses on building interoperability and cooperation in the region to meet common challenges.
| Date Taken: | 11.24.2009 |
| Date Posted: | 11.27.2009 07:29 |
| Story ID: | 42063 |
| Location: | USCENTCOM, AT SEA |
| Web Views: | 179 |
| Downloads: | 153 |
This work, Wasp Delivers Rotarian Books to Belize, by PO2 Christopher Koons, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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