Humanitarian support for Armenia departs Camp Darby

By Chiara MattiroloNovember 13, 2023

PISA, Italy – Humanitarian assistance items warehoused at Leghorn Army Depot are now heading toward Armenia to help those in need.

Humanitarian support for Armenia departs Camp Darby
Preparation in the Darby Military Community has been going for weeks. It began by staging and filling containers inside in the depot’s warehouses. (Photo Credit: Chiara Mattirolo, USAG Italy, DMC Public affairs) VIEW ORIGINAL

At the request of the U.S. Embassy in Armenia, staff at the Humanitarian Assistance Program Livorno began preparing the shipment, which included beds, mattresses, furniture, appliances, cots, sleeping bags, strollers and more. This will help families seeking refuge as they escape conflict in the region, said Janine Wick, who manages the program.

“The HAP project provides for basic equipment and life support for an Armenian population that has been forced to leave their homes in Nagorno-Karabakh due to Azerbaijan's military activity and threat,” Wick said. “It’s all about building partnership and steady state security that we work with our partner nations.”

Humanitarian support for Armenia departs Camp Darby
Janine Wick, 405th Army Field Support Brigade, Humanitarian Assistance Program manager and her team are preparing to help Armenia receive refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh, with a large shipment of various materials, beds, chairs, tables, baby carriages. DEPOT, Camp Darby Livorno, Italy, Nov. 09, 2023. HAP missions align with partnership building and steady state support and sustainability. Defense Security Cooperation Agency donates non-lethal excess property to foreign allies and partner nations in times of need and during crises. (U.S. Army photo by Elena Baladelli)
(Photo Credit: U.S. Army photo by Elena Baladelli) VIEW ORIGINAL

The shipment to Armenia took place the week of Nov. 6. Preparation in the Darby Military Community has been going for weeks. It began by staging and filling containers inside in the depot’s warehouses, Wick said. The aid is made up of unused military supplies that are turned over for emergency use or humanitarian assistance.

In April 2022, HAP Livorno sent $200,000 worth aid supplies to support Ukrainian refugees in Latvia. The shipment included 2,400 folding cots, pillows and blankets. Twelve Italian employees and four U.S. civilians make up the HAP Livorno team. One of them is supply technician Chuck Nader, whose job is to make sure the HAP warehouse has the supplies to fulfill mission requirements.

“If we don’t have the needed supplies on hand, we reach out to other HAP locations and ask for support,” Nader said. “This time, we had a 75-percent fill rate of material on hand.”

More than 100,000 Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh were recently forced to seek refuge in Armenia, creating a need for shelters to care for displaced people, Wick said. The HAP Livorno aid will go to Armenian authorities who can distribute the supplies to regional shelter locations, she said.

Humanitarian support for Armenia departs Camp Darby
At the request of the U.S. Embassy in Armenia, staff at the Humanitarian Assistance Program Livorno began preparing the shipment, which included beds, matrasses, furniture, appliances, cots, sleeping bags, strollers and more. This will help families seeking refuge as they escape conflict in the region, said Janine Wick, who manages the program (Photo Credit: Chiara Mattirolo, USAG Italy, DMC Public affairs) VIEW ORIGINAL

“Any HAP mission brings joy in what we do,” Wick said. “We are helping people, in this case families, and giving them some comfort when being displaced from home and trying to find refuge.”

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