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Not fit to wear: 612th Air Base Squadron fire department collects clothing for Honduran families

  • Published
  • By Capt. Steven Stubbs
  • Joint Task Force-Bravo
The 612th Air Base Squadron (ABS) Fire Department donated clothes they had collected to Honduran families in the village of Mata de Platano, just outside of Comayagua, Honduras March 8, 2014.

The clothing drive collected over 1,000 pounds of clothing for the local families in need. This amounted to more than 275 sets of clothing and shoes distributed to 30 families. They also handed out backpacks to the children as well.

The idea to have a drive started when one airman observed that many of the local people were wearing clothes that had seen better days.

"I was downtown and saw a lot of locals with ripped, dirty, or clothes that weren't fit to wear," said U. S. Air Force Senior Airman Steven Vandenburgh, a 612 ABS Fire Fighter Driver Operator. "I knew I had clothes to spare and thought it would be a good idea to donate them."

And just like that, a clothing drive was born. Vandenburgh spear headed the drive by creating a central collection point and solicited donations from other Joint Task Force-Bravo personnel by advertising on the commander's access channel and distributing flyers around post during the month of February.

"Any humanitarian project or act of kindness is always helpful and ensures that people of all races and ethnicities can and will join together to help one another," said Vandenburgh. "These projects are very beneficial to the local communities to show that we are here to help, and make their lives better in any way possible."