FORT RUCKER, Ala. (November 8, 2012) -- During the past several weeks, student Soldiers with B Company, 1st Battalion, 145th Aviation Regiment collected non-perishable items for the Wiregrass Area United Way Food Bank as part of a community service project.
"This is just one of the many projects we participate in," Maj. Tim Harloff, 1-145th Avn., said. "We have 1,800 flight students who participate in several community projects just as a way to give back to the community. The Soldiers, as well as Fort Rucker as a whole, strongly believe in giving back to the community, especially with all the support we get from the community. We are hoping these collections reach the Families in their time of need, especially right here with the holidays fast approaching. God bless each Family that will benefit from this project."
This is the second annual food drive hosted by Bravo Company.
"We are very pleased to once again have the support of the 1st-145th Bravo Company," said Julie Gonzalez, development director with the Wiregrass Area United Way Food Bank, upon delivery of the donations Nov. 2. "Last year, we had no idea just how much they would collect, so we expected to get around 200 pounds of food. They actually ended up collecting 4,200 pounds of food. It was great, and we cannot thank all of them enough. We are excited to see what has been collected this year. I want to personally thank each and every one one of them."
There are 47,000 people living in poverty in the food bank's service area: Houston, Henry, Dale, Coffee, Geneva and Barbour counties. In the Wiregrass, one in every six individuals experience hunger on a daily basis. One in every four of those individuals is a child. One in every seven of those individuals is a senior citizen, according to Gonzalez.
"This is just our way in giving back to those who have supported us for so many years," CW3 Joe Morano, 1-145th Avn., said. "This is just one of the projects we try to participate in to give back to the community. Currently, we have about 50 different projects we participate in, and we are proud to do so. We want to instill these skills into our flight students. That way, when they leave Fort Rucker and are stationed all over the globe, they have learned the importance of helping individuals in need."
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