Photo By Staff Sgt. Jesus Sepulveda Torres | KANEOHE, Hawaii – Service members with Alpha Battery, 1st Battalion, 12th Marine...... read more read more
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KANEOHE, Hawaii – Marines with Alpha Battery, 1st Battalion, 12th Marine Regiment from Marine Corps Base Hawaii, participated in a “Meet the Community Heroes” event at the Kaneohe Public Library in Kaneohe, Hawaii, June 23, 2016.
Children got the chance to meet police officers, firefighters and Marines; Vehicles from all the services were on display for the children to climb around in.
Curt Fukumoto, a children’s services librarian with the Kaneohe Public Library, helped setup the event for the library’s children.
“For some of the children, this could be their first or last time they get to meet some their community’s heroes,” said Fukumoto, a Waipahu, Hawaii, native. “The children got to ask questions and learn about what the different services do for the community.”
He said the event allowed the firefighters, police officers and Marines to have an opportunity to get a closer relationship with the children, so they could be more comfortable and familiar with the community heroes.
Fukumoto said it was a great educational experience as well as a fun opportunity to actually see the different vehicles used by all the services.
“There were a lot of positive reactions from the kids, especially when they got to ride in the fire truck or big military truck,” he said. “The service members were polite and enthusiastic with the children and asked when they could do this again.”
Fukumoto said these community heroes protect us, our communities and the country. The kids can look up to these people and have positive role models, for that he thanks the service members for spending time from their busy to day to meet the children.
1st Lt. Jacob Richardson, the headquarters platoon commander for Alpha Battery, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, was present at the event and helped coordinate the visit with the Marines.
“The event was a good opportunity for us to interact with the community, especially the younger children whom probably have never seen a Marine in person,” said Richardson, a Collierville, Tenn., native. “This was a way to show us Marines as part of the community as well, whether we’re stationed here or elsewhere.”
Richardson said he heard a lot of positive comments from the parents as the children waited in lines to jump into the back of the trucks. He dressed any child brave enough in a flak jacket and kevlar helmet.
“It was a good time for me and my Marines, just as much as it was with the children,” he said. “My Marines were respectful and it was a good learning experience for them to interact with younger children.”
Richardson said the Marines answered questions and helped show them around the vehicles they brought to the event.
He said he hopes the children learned something from the Marines.
“Some of these kids could possibly be future Marines and they’ll remember this event to show how Marines are also just members of the community,” Richardson said.
He said he was thankful for the chance to participate and hopes to bring more oh his Marines events like these.
| Date Taken: | 06.23.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 06.29.2016 06:16 |
| Story ID: | 202712 |
| Location: | KANEOHE, HI, US |
| Web Views: | 135 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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