Southern Partnership Station 2011 Delivers Wheel Chairs, Aid

By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class (SW) Jeffery Tilghman Williams, High Speed Vessel (HSV) 2 Swift Public Affairs

MANTA, Ecuador (NNS) -- The Southern Partnership Station (SPS) 2011 team aboard High Speed Vessel (HSV) 2 Swift delivered more than 30,000 pounds of Project Handclasp donations for Ecuadorian medical facilities at Puerto Manta in Ecuador Jan. 10.

A generator and 99 wheel chairs were unloaded from the ship's mission bay by members of the joint military and civilian crew as U.S. Embassy officials, Ecuadorian Sailors, reporters and representatives from various hospitals and clinics in the region awaited.

"This is what this mission is all about," said SPS 2011 Mission Commander Cmdr. Mark Becker. "It's about sharing and helping each other, because we share common interests, and both our nations are committed to sustaining a solid partnership."

"The products delivered will be put to good use by people in our country. Those in need will benefit from this donation, and it's welcomed and appreciated," said Ecuadorian Capitan de Navio Jaime Moscoso, joint commander for the Manabi Region, who provided a team of Ecuadorian Sailors to assist with the offload of supplies.

Project Handclasp is a U.S. Navy program that accepts and transports educational, humanitarian and goodwill material donated by America's private sector on a space-available basis aboard U.S. Navy ships for distribution to foreign nation recipients. The approximate value of the items donated is $93,000.

The wheel chair pallets were donated by Hope Haven International Ministries in Iowa, and the generator was donated by Bayside Medical Missions and Educational Outreach Inc. in Alabama.

"We are very thankful and appreciative for this donation," said Liliana Andrade de Garcia, Club Rotario Portoviejo Gobernadora Electa. "On behalf of our organization and our country, I'd like to say thank you."

The HSV 2 crew has delivered Project Handclasp materials to Chile and Haiti so far as part of SPS 2011 and is scheduled to deliver items to El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua before the conclusion of the mission in April 2011.

SPS is an annual deployment of U.S. ships to the U.S. Southern Command Area of Responsibility (AOR) in the Caribbean and Latin America, involving information sharing with navies, coast guards and civilian services throughout the region.

Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command (COMUSNAVSO) is the naval component command for U.S. Southern Command and is responsible for all naval personnel and assets in the AOR. COMUSNAVSO conducts a variety of missions in support of the U.S. Maritime Strategy, including theater security cooperation, relationship building, humanitarian assistance and disaster response, community relations and counter-illicit trafficking operations.

For more information, visit www.public.navy.mil/comusnavso-c4f, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/NAVSOUS4THFLT or on Twitter at www.twitter.com/NAVSOUS4THFLT.