U.S. service members, local Sicilian school clean historic beach

Photo By Master Sgt. Bryan Peterson | U.S. Marine Cpl. Isaiah DeJesus, a combat engineer for Special-Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force Crisis Response-Africa, and a Sicilian high school student pick up trash from in between volcanic rocks at the Catania San Giovannia Li Cuti Beach and waterfront, Oct. 26, in Catania, Italy. Nearly 20 Marines and sailors partnered with a local Sicilian high school to clean up the beach. The Lions Club Catania-sponsored event was the 26th community relations project the Marines and sailors with SPMAGTF-CR-AF participated in since arriving to Naval Air Station Sigonella in mid-July. The Marines and sailors spent half the day, alongside the high school students, picking up trash in between the volcanic rocks and combing the beach of debris.  

CATANIA, ITALY

10.27.2015

Story by Staff Sgt. Bryan Peterson 

U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Europe and Africa     

CATANIA, Italy -- U.S. Navy Lt. Derrick Horne lives by his self-described proverb, “the smallest acts of kindness creates the greatest acts for eternity.”

This was clear when nearly 20 Marines and sailors partnered with a local Sicilian high school to clean up the Catania San Giovannia Li Cuti Beach and waterfront, Oct. 26, in Catania, Italy.

The Lions Club Catania-sponsored event was the 26th community relations project the Marines and sailors with Special-Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force Crisis Response-Africa participated in since arriving to Naval Air Station Sigonella in mid-July.

The Marines and sailors spent half the day, alongside high school students, picking up trash in between the volcanic rocks and combing the beach of debris.

The community relations event’s timing was in concert with Sicily’s environment week where efforts all over the island are focused on beautifying the island; though, this was one of many clean-up projects they have participated in.

The impact, according to Horne, wasn’t the amount of trash bags the students, Marines and sailors filled, but the service provided to the people who live in the community.

During the event, Sicilians and tourists took the time to give “a thumbs up” and shake the hands of those who were “making Sicily a better place to enjoy,” while some even took part in picking up trash.

“All these small acts that we do in service to others hopefully will have lasting impacts to those we serve and those we come in contact with,” said the Tulsa, Oklahoma, native. “This also has an impact on those who are taking part as well. Service to others also has an impact on those serving and that’s also really important.”

U.S. Marine Corps 1st Lt. Amber Rickman, a maintenance officer with SPMAGTF-CR-AF, said one thing Americans hold “near and dear” is providing a better place for the next generation than they found it.

She said it doesn’t matter where “we are at in the world because we are living alongside [the Italians].”

“Take for instance the fact we’re working alongside the high school students today,” the Murrieta, Calif., native said, “they are the future here or wherever they may go in life. We aren’t citizens of Italy, but while we are here, we need to be good stewards of the environment and the communities we live in whether that’s in the U.S. or abroad. Today was a great example how, no matter the communication barrier, we work together to achieve a common goal.”

U.S. Marine Cpl. Isaiah DeJesus, a combat engineer with the unit, uses every spare moment to volunteer his time for community relations events during this deployment. He said the more SPMAGTF-CR-AF Marines and sailors are involved in the community, “the more they’ll know why we are here and see a different side to us.”

“We’re known around the world as a warfighting institution,” said Dejesus, a Hershey, Pennsylvania, native. “This also presents an opportunity for us to get out and take part in something, whether it’s here at the beach picking up trash or visiting high schools to interact with the students in English, because we are living here. Our lasting impact will be measured by what we did while we were here. I believe it’s my responsibility to be involved in the community because I am living here. I am a part of it.”

Horne said the Marines and sailors in the unit feel the same way. He spends all of his time, while not out on a community relations event, planning for the weeks, sometimes months ahead. He said there’s always a demand from the Marines and sailors to be involved with the community.

At one point during the deployment, while the vans were ready to head to a historic site for a clean-up event, more people than he had planned showed up to volunteer, leaving him scurrying to find another vehicle.

“It’s a great problem to have, really,” said Horne. “By the end of October, if everything goes according to plan, we will have completed 30 community relations events. That’s incredible and I am truly blessed to be surrounded by people with big hearts. We will probably do a 100 if not more by the end of this deployment.”

While SPMAGTF-CR-AF is strategically positioned at NAS Sigonella, Italy, to stage and prepare for theater security cooperation missions and crisis response in Africa, Marines and sailors continue to build on previous units’ efforts in Sicily to further solidify a strong partnership between the U.S. and its Italian friends.

• Date Taken: 10.27.2015
• Date Posted: 10.27.2015 09:49
• Story ID: 180027
• Location: CATANIA, IT
• Hometown: HERSHEY, PA, US
• Hometown: MURRIETA, CA, US
• Hometown: TULSA, OK, US