Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, S.C./ERR -- Drill instructors spend countless hours each week helping to change the lives of the nation?s young men and women who choose to take on the challenge of becoming a United States Marine, but a group of drill instructors and company officers took on a different challenge Nov. 14.
During pick-up week, the drill instructors and company officers of Lima Co., 3rd RTBn., volunteered their time with the Hilton Head Regional Chapter of Habitat for Humanity in Bluffton. Habitat for Humanity is a non-profit, non-denominational Christian housing organization seeking to eliminate poverty housing and homelessness around the world, and to make decent shelter a matter of conscience and action.
Typically, volunteers are known for their help in building homes, but the Lima Company Marines played a different role. They assisted the short-handed staff at the Habitat for Humanity warehouse by providing the manpower to rearrange and organize donated items within the warehouse, saving the staff months of labor, said Patricia Wirth, executive director of the Hilton Head Chapter.
?The men who came to work for Habitat [Nov. 14] are truly the finest examples of our military men,? said Wirth. ?As I watched them arrive, I thought of the young people who live in our Habitat houses, many without the benefit of a male role model, and I wished they could have seen what possibilities exist in the military.?
For the Marines, this was an opportunity to do something helpful for those in need while building a positive relationship with the local community.
?This gesture from Lima [Company] was another step toward getting closer to our community and sending a positive example to the rest of our military counterparts,? said Capt. Harold E. Dowling, lead series commander, who volunteered for Habitat for Humanity while stationed at MCAS Cherry Point. ?We are grateful for the opportunity to serve the community and are excited about the relationship that has been established with the people at Habitat for Humanity.?
Although the Marines did not participate in the traditional sense of Habitat for Humanity, Wirth said the staff greatly appreciated their efforts and looked forward to working with the Marines in the future.
?We at Habitat for Humanity are not just in the business of building homes ? our primary objective is to build hope,? she said. ?I can?t think of better partners in that quest than the Marines.?
More information about Habitat for Humanity and volunteer information can be found on their Web site, www.habitat.org, or by contacting one of the three local chapters: Lowcountry Habitat for Humanity (Beaufort) at (843) 986-0286; Hilton Head Regional Chapter at (843) 757-5864; or the Coastal Empire Habitat for Humanity (Savannah, Ga.) at (912) 353-8122.