Since the organization’s establishment in 1958, Project HOPE (Health Opportunities for People Everywhere) has been working to make health care available to people around the world. Recently, medical volunteers and Navy personnel hopped on Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH-20) to embark on a four-month mission to the Carribean and Central and South America. The team had already visited countries such as Panama, Belize, Guatemala, Peru, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Ecuador and Colombia.

During Comfort’s stop in Buenaventura, Colombia, a young patient received a special gift from one of the ship’s crew. On August 27, Equipment Operator 1st Class (SCW) Manuel Gradillas, a Seabee assigned to Construction Battalion Maintenance Unit 202, presented a specially designed wheelchair to 12-year-old Buenaventura native Ana Renteria, whose arms and legs have been paralyzed since she was six.

Equipment Operator 1st Class Manuel Gradillas presents a specially
decorated wheelchair to Ana Renteria while her caregiver Maria Renterialooks on.
USNS Comfort is on a four-month deployment to provide medicalrelief
to patients in the Carribean and Latin America. US Navy photo by
Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Kelly E. Barnes.

Commander Rebecca Kiser and Lieutenant Commander Josie Brenner were the ones who came up with the idea to design Ana’s wheelchair. They approached the Seabees to look for an artist, and Gradillas, who had become friends with Ana the instant they met, volunteered. Despite having to wake up early the next day, he worked hard on his gift until the wee hours of the morning.

Ana’s appreciation was evident in her smile as she was given her new wheelchair. It was painted with flowers, birds, butterflies, and Ana’s name in yellow, her favorite color. Gradillas couldn’t help but get misty-eyed. “This is what I’m supposed to do,” he said. “It’s the reason I’m here.”

Despite diversity, it is still possible to form bonds, proving that friendship transcends age, nationality and borders. Kudos to the Project HOPE volunteers and Navy personnel for their generosity and tireless work.

For more information on Project HOPE, visit www.projhope.org.

Two years ago, the Hurricane Katrina makes landfall near New Orleans, Louisiana as a Category 4 hurricane on this day. Hurricane Katrina was the costliest and one of the deadliest hurricane in the history of the United States. Despite being only the third most powerful storm of the 2005 hurricane season, Katrina was the worst natural disaster in the history of the United States. After briefly coming ashore in southern Florida on August 25 as a Category 1 hurricane, Katrina gained strength before slamming into the Gulf Coast on August 29. In addition to bringing devastation to the New Orleans area, the hurricane caused damage along the coasts of Mississippi and Alabama, as well as other parts of Louisiana.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and providing environmental stewardship of the nation’s coastal and marine resources.

NOAA hurricane hunter WP-3D Orion and Gulfstream IV aircraft conducted ten long flights into and around the eye of Hurricane Katrina. Lt. Mike Silah, a P-3 pilot, got to see Hurricane Katrina up close and personal, especially when she was an extremely dangerous Category Five storm in the Gulf of Mexico. The day before the powerful and destructive storm made landfall on the USA Gulf Coast, Silah snapped a series of images capturing the eyewall of Katrina.

References: History.com, Wikipedia

In October 1965, CDR Clarence W. Stoddard, Jr., Executive Officer of VA-25 “Fist of the Fleet”, flying an A-1H Skyraider, NE/572 “Paper Tiger II” from Carrier Air Wing Two aboard USS Midway carried a special bomb to the North Vietnamese in commemoration of the 6-millionth pound of ordnance dropped. This bomb was unique because of the type… it was a toilet!

Read the rest of this entry �

Patty Briguglio, president of MMI Associates, Inc., a Raleigh-based marketing and public relations firm, has announced that the firm has been awarded the 2007 Videographer Award of Distinction for its efforts in planning and producing a podcast entitled “Major Dutch Van Kirk.” The podcast features commentary from Major Dutch Van Kirk and discusses his involvement in World War II as the plane navigator responsible for dropping the first atomic bomb at Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945. A renowned war hero and a recognized spokesperson for TMC Pacific Modelworks in Phoenix, Van Dirk examines his role in World War II and the historical integrity of the model aircrafts manufactured by TMC Pacific Modelworks in the podcast.

Recipients of the Award of Distinction submit projects that the judges deemed were written, produced, shot, edited, and/or marketed in an exceptional manner, exceed a high standard of excellence, and whose work serves as a benchmark for the industry. This award-winning podcast is available for download at http://www.mmimarketing.com/podcast/major-dutch-van-kirk-discusses-wwii.

Read the rest of this entry �