Spokane Area Sailors Help Build Homes During Navy Week

By Senior Chief Mass Communication Specialist Susan Hammond, Navy Office of Community Outreach

May 13, 2010 - SPOKANE, Wash. (NNS) -- Spokane-area Navy recruiters volunteered their time, skills and energy at a Habitat for Humanity job site in Spokane May 12.

Volunteers painted and installed pipes and plumbing for a nine-unit home building project during Spokane Navy Week.

Navy Week kicked off May 10 with events designed to give the public a close-up look at what the men and women of the U.S. Navy.

Navy Office of Community Outreach (NAVCO), Navy Recruiting District (NRD) Seattle and Navy Operational Support Center (NOSC) Spokane join forces this week, along with Sailors from the USS Constitution and Navy Band Northwest to showcase the Navy May 10-15. Spokane Navy Week takes place in conjunction with the Spokane Lilac Festival and is one of 20 Navy Weeks being held across America in 2010.

The volunteers for the project, recruiting staff of NRD Seattle, are familiar to the Habitat for Humanity organizers because they volunteer throughout the year. NRD Seattle includes recruiting stations in western Washington, and northern Idaho and Montana, and recruiters often come to Spokane for volunteer projects.

"We are excited to be a part of Navy Week, and we love it when the Navy volunteers," said Michone Preston, executive director of Habitat for Humanity Spokane, which builds 10-20 homes a year for disadvantaged families.

"They are people with skills, people with work ethic, people with a positive attitude, strength and community focus," Preston said. "They are the cream of the crop of our volunteers!"

The recruiters worked alongside the Habitat for Humanity staff, AmeriCorps and Vista volunteers, as well as the homeowners themselves, who are required to put in 500 hours of work on the homes they will occupy.

Some of the recruiters are very involved with community assistance projects like this, such as Hospital Corpsman 1st Class Devin McConnell of Navy Recruiting Station Spokane. He is a member of the Spokane Homeless Coalition, an organization composed of several area helping agencies. McConnell is president of his First Class Petty Officers Association and asks the association's membership to volunteer for projects like this.

"It's very rewarding to see the outcome and how we've helped to get people into homes," said McConnell.

Navy Week continues this week with performances by the Navy Band Northwest rock band, "Passage," as well as other community service projects supported by Sailors from USS Constitution, NOSC Spokane and NRD Seattle. The schedule of events also includes civic, corporate and educational engagements by Vice Adm. Bruce W. Clingan, deputy chief of Naval Operations for Operations, Plans and Strategy. Rear Adm. James A. Symonds, commander, Navy Region Northwest, participated in several engagements earlier in the week.

Interactive displays such as the Navy Suburban, a wrapped Navy-theme media center on wheels, equipped with video games, and the Navy Simulator, featuring live-action Navy films programmed to move in sync with point-of-view imagery presented on a large screen, provides additional entertainment during Navy Week events at a variety of locations.

Spokane Navy Week concludes May 14 when area Sailors display their float in the Lilac Festival Parade.