Misawa Airmen Coordinate Volunteer Efforts In Local Community
(March 23, 2011) |
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| MISAWA AIR BASE, Japan (3/20/2011 - AFNS) -- It wasn't long
after the ground stopped shaking in Japan that people began
asking, "What can I do to help?" |
Airmen and Sailors work together to help clean up the Misawa City fishing port, Japan, Mar. 19, 2011. More than 3,000 man hours have been put in since Mar. 14,
2011 by Misawa Air Base residents to help our local communities with recovery efforts. U.S. Air Force photo
by Staff Sgt. Marie Brown |
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Hundreds of volunteers, military members, families
and civilians, came forward at Misawa Air Base in
the days following the March 11, 9.0-magnitude
earthquake. It soon became clear that a coordinated
effort was needed to organize all those who wanted
to help.
Maj. Wesley Hales, from the 14th
Fighter Squadron, was designated the base volunteer
coordinator. He joined with the Misawa American Red
Cross Station and quickly got to work collecting
names of volunteers and sorting out the various
volunteer opportunities available.
"There
are really two main efforts here," Major Hales said.
"There are volunteer trips to go to Hachinohe and
Misawa port for the cleanup effort. And there is the
donation side - collecting clothes and food and
sending those supplies to Sendai and other places
that need help."
An all-call was issued for
donations such as blankets, clothes, food, and
toiletry items. Base |
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residents were eager to help and soon the high
school gym was full of donations. Gathering the
donations was easy enough, but now volunteer
coordinators faced the challenge of getting the
donations to those in need. |
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"A lot of things had to come together to make this," Major
Hales said.
With fuel shortages and blocked roads,
coordinators were not sure how to get the donations out to
the affected areas. As luck would have it, a busload of
American teachers from Sendai showed up at the base seeking
refuge. The bus they travelled on was returning to Sendai.
Volunteers loaded up the bus with donations, and Sendai
school officials ended up renting a truck to help with
deliveries. The vehicles have been making shuttle runs back
and forth between the base and Sendai, delivering seven
truckloads of donations to those in need.
"The
school in Sendai has become a hub for donations and people
there know that's where they need to go for supplies," Major
Hales said.
People still wanted to help locally.
Ports in Misawa and Hachinohe were destroyed from the
tsunami, but the cities were not asking base officials for
help. The Misawa Security Operations Center, a Misawa Air
Base tenant unit, was able to break the ice with the local
cities and began assisting with clean-up efforts at a
Hachinohe fishery. Their initial efforts opened the gate to
an army of volunteers on base.
On March 15, 80
volunteers packed on two buses headed to Hachinohe. With the
help of interpreters the volunteers began assisting locals
wherever they could. It wasn't long before they were working
their way down the beach, cleaning up with the locals.
"Now the supply cannot keep up with the demand. There is
so much to do," Major Hales said. "If I could send 500
people out at a time, I could easily keep them employed."
Since the first trip, more than 600 volunteers have
assisted with clean-up efforts in Misawa and Hachinohe.
Additional trips are being planned on a day-by-day basis,
with the largest trip so far taking place March 20 when 120
people headed to the Misawa Port.
Roger Haack has been
living in Misawa for about 18 months with his wife, a
Department of Defense Dependent Schools teacher on base.
While collecting salvageable bricks at the Misawa Port on
March 19, he said he was there to help his community.
"I volunteer because I want to help our neighbors, help
our host country," he said. "We love it here. The support
from the military and the community is great."
Mr.
Haack and his wife have volunteered for four clean-up trips
to the Misawa Port and Hachinohe so far.
"My biggest
surprise and disappointment is seeing the damage down at
Misawa Port," he said. "All the news is talking about
Hachinohe. It appeared that most the damage was there. We
use the Misawa Port area a lot; we walk on the beach here.
It's disappointing to see the damage."
Volunteering
alongside those relatively new to the community, like Mr.
Haack, were long-time Japan residents. Master Sgt. Donna
Major, assigned to the 373rd Intelligence, Surveillance,
Reconnaissance Group, has been in Misawa for six years. She
went on her first volunteer trip eight-days after the
earthquake.
"I've been trying to get out here all
week," she said. "I saw the devastation in Sendai on the
news - how could you not help. Whatever it is, picking up
bricks, trash, you have to be out here helping.
With
all the devastation and work to be done, Sergeant Major said
she believes the Japanese community will come through it
all.
"The Japanese are strong people," she said.
"They rally together and will get through this, just like
the military. We pick each other up and say, 'come on, you
can do this.'"
There have been a number of smaller
volunteer cases popping up around base over the last week.
People have offered childcare, playgroups, cheerleading
clinics, and Kinder Jam sessions to provide an activity for
children and relief for parents since schools have been
closed all week. There have also been numerous instances of
people offering up their homes to those Japanese and
American citizens who need a place to stay.
"There
are some really great people out there," said Kate Vella,
the Misawa American Red Cross station chairperson. "We have
people with huge hearts and volunteers are making all this
possible."
With so much happening, and information
constantly changing, Major Hales turned to the experts at
the American Red Cross for assistance with the
administrative aspects of volunteer coordination. Red Cross
volunteers like Ms. Vella are maintaining a database of
volunteers and what they can offer. Additionally, they are
updating the Misawa American Red Cross Facebook page on a
near-continuous basis with information on up-coming
volunteer opportunities and how people can make monetary
donations.
"The Red Cross is a lynchpin in this
operation," Major Hales said. "If I didn't have them, we
couldn't make this all happen."
As Operation
Tomodachi and the Department of Defense voluntary departure
continue, Major Hales stressed that volunteer efforts will
continue but will have to be balanced with operational
requirements.
"The challenge is to balance our
energy with making sure we don't over extend ourselves and
that we are smart about it," the major said. "We'll temper
volunteer efforts with allocating the appropriate amount of
resources needed for the movement of folks out of Japan, but
Operation Tomodachi is alive and well." |
By USAF SSgt. Rachel Martinez
35th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
Copyright 2011 | |
Reprinted from
Air Force News
Service
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