Courtesy Photo | Tonya Roberts of the Southeast Mississippi Rural Health Initiative checks Stacy...... read more read more
By Sgt. Belynda Faulkner
CAMP SHELBY, Miss. – The 177th Armored Brigade, Camp Shelby Joint Forces Training Center, Camp Shelby, Miss., has always been active in supporting the local Hattiesburg Community. From gathering items for veteran homes and Toys for Tots, to soldiers donating their time to feeding the homeless and being monitors for state testing boards.
So when Tamara Baldwin Powell from the Oseola McCarty Youth Development Center of Hattiesburg called and asked for soldiers to support the eighth annual “Make a Difference Day,” it didn’t take long for the 177th to round up the necessary volunteers.
The event, held Oct. 23, was hosted by the Youth Development Center of Hattiesburg in partnership with Communities for All Ages. This year’s theme: Focusing on Fitness, Food and Fun.
Soldiers from the 177th Brigade set up a static display with a high mobility multi-purpose wheeled vehicle and let adults and children put on body armor and get into the vehicle.
“It was great to talk to the kids,” said Master Sgt. David Matschkowsky, 3-346th Logistic Support Battalion. “Most of them have family or know someone who is in the military, so they have a lot of questions.”
“Watching them with the body armor and the fascination with the vehicle was great.”
The soldiers who volunteered for the event assisted with the children’s cake walk, the Youth Developments Center’s dancing through the age’s performance, as well as the set up and take down of the equipment for the event. They also spoke with many of the teenagers in attendance about the benefits of being in the military and their daily jobs on Camp Shelby. Powell’s husband is a retired Air Force staff sergeant and she knows the benefits of being in the military.
“In communities where most families barely have enough to get by, the children seem to give up on going to college at an early age; they end up in gangs or worse,” she said. “Joining the military is a great way to change all of that.”
Make a difference day 2010 was about getting everyone in the community involved, from the elderly to the youngest child,” she continued. “It is important that they come together and help each other – that is what makes a community.”
| Date Taken: | 10.23.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 11.09.2010 10:20 |
| Story ID: | 59741 |
| Location: | CAMP SHELBY, US |
| Web Views: | 93 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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