Members of the 353rd Special Operations Group help children in the Phillipines

Photo By Petty Officer 2nd Class Justin Mohr | MANILLA, PHILLIPINES (Feb. 19, 2017) -- Tech Sgt. Chris Anderson, an Airman assigned to the 353rd Special Operations Group at Kadena Air Base holds 2 orphan children at the Kings Garden Orphanage in the Philippines during a community relations project. The project brought together both government civilian employees and active duty personnel to set up computers and spend time with children at need during a community relations project in the Manilla area. (U.S. Navy photos by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Taylor Mohr)  

PHILIPPINES

02.20.2017

Story by Petty Officer 2nd Class Justin Mohr 

AFN Pacific

20 computers, plus school supplies and toys were brought from Okinawa to be delivered to the Kings Garden orphanage and the Child Hope outreach center in Manilla. The computers, which were slated to be recycled, were seen by Airforce Capt. Lawrence Melnicoff as an opportunity to give back to communities in need. Melnicoff started building computers for communities around Okinawa after arriving to his command, the 353rd Special Operations Group. The group took notice of his efforts and asked him to expand.
“Usually these projects I will use equipment I’ve refurbished myself. The ones we donated here are toughbooks, so they are pretty sturdy machines that we use in the service. So I thought they would do well in an environment like this.” Said Melnicoff.
He said, he noticed using equipment that the military paid a fair amount and getting rid of could be purchased for much less and refurbished for projects like these.
“You buy one with a couple issues, a couple years old and you fix it up nice, and we put thousands of books and educational software. For what we spend we will be helping more than two thousand kids a year.” Said Melnicoff.
The computers will give the children the opportunity to have access to technology that they have never seen or used before.

• Date Taken: 02.20.2017
• Date Posted: 02.23.2017 23:38
• Story ID: 224654
• Location: PH