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CRYSTAL SPRINGS, Miss. - Just outside of this small town, The Mississippi’s Toughest Kids foundation is employing a surprising team to build a camp for children and families hampered by serious illness and physical or mental challenges.
While many nonprofit organizations would go about building in the same manner as any commercial project, MTK has instead partnered with the Innovative Readiness Training program, a multiservice initiative from the Office of the Secretary of the Defense that brings military capabilities to those that most need it in the United States.
Some projects can be fully realized in a few short weeks. Others, like this large scale construction effort, take several summers and multiple rotations of units from the Marine Corps, Air Force, Army, and Navy.
Among the servicemembers that have worked on Camp Kamassa, this new accessible camp, in the past four years, one stood out more than others in a program that sees thousands of Marines, Sailors, Soldiers, and Airmen.
Staff Sergeant Matthew Hawkins, 37, from St. Louis is just gearing up for his second and significantly longer stint in southern Mississippi.
Last year, just before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down many projects across the country, Hawkins spent two weeks of his annual training assisting the foundation with the Camp Kamassa project.
“Last year we spent our two weeks here mostly on the multi-family cabins and improving site access,” said Hawkins.
Hawkins’s performance was so exemplary he received the Innovative Readiness Training Participant of the Year award and MTK asked the program for him to return for the duration of the 2021 project season, extending his brief two week trip to five months.
“The role will be expanded,” he laughs. “I’m going to be overseeing all vertical construction and running the quality control portion of the job.”
Hawkins, like Liam Niesen, has a certain set of skills that lends itself perfectly to the task before him.
“I own a construction company doing residential and some commercial projects,” says Hawkins. “I can do everything from interior framing to the finishing trim.”
So in this new position he will not only oversee the work of his Marines, but also guide the Air Force units that will be participating.
“I’d like us to finish up with all of the cabins this year,” said Hawkins. “I want everyone to get some training with a purpose.”
And that is precisely what Camp Kamassa and Mississippi’s Toughest Kids needs at the moment and what they appreciate the most.
“This is such a good cause. It makes you feel good as opposed to a typical training environment where you build things just to tear them apart. It’s nice to see the impact that the work has,” Hawkins says. “We’ve met a few of the kids that will utilize the camp and their reactions are better than an award.”
| Date Taken: | 03.04.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 04.16.2021 14:44 |
| Story ID: | 392081 |
| Location: | CRYSTAL SPRINGS, MISSISSIPPI, US |
| Hometown: | CRYSTAL SPRINGS, MISSISSIPPI, US |
| Hometown: | ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, US |
| Web Views: | 34 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, Even the toughest need help sometimes, by SSgt Frans Labranche, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
