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Members of the Niger Armed Forces Affair Civil Militaire, in partnership with private organizations from Ramstein, donated items to local villages near and around Agadez, Niger, which will be distributed throughout the month of January and February.
“The donation drive was accomplished by private groups and Ramstein Middle School, who wanted to provide items to local nationals in an area of the 435th Expeditionary Wing’s responsibility,” said Capt. Cliff Kim, 724th Expeditionary Air Base Squadron chaplain.
The donation drive initiative began when Laura Yost, a teacher at Ramstein Middle School, contacted Maj. Lane Campbell, 435th Air Expeditionary Wing chaplain, about organizing donation collection boxes.
“Our [National Junior Honor Society] decided upon a donation drive as our December service project,” said Yost. “NJHS is centered around self-motivated and hardworking students who consider the needs of others. The purpose of NJHS is to develop scholars and leaders that serve the school and community. Our NJHS members felt that this donation drive was a great way to serve the purpose of NJHS and give back to those that are in need. This was a wonderful experience for our students to see how a small group of middle schoolers can make a large impact in the world.”
Once Campbell and the middle school began working out the details, he looped in other groups from the Wing, such as a spouses group.
“AB 201 was chosen due to the partnership between the FAN ACM and the 443 Civil Affairs Battalion,” said Lt. Col. John Barrett, 724th Expeditionary Air Base Squadron commander.
The CA team would be able to facilitate the transfer of the donations to the FAN ACM to distribute to local villages, women’s organizations, and orphanages within Agadez and the surrounding area. Having the FAN ACM deliver the donations accomplishes one of AB 201’s missions, which is to build partner capacity.
“The partnership between CA and the FAN ACM is a major force enabler at AB 201,” said Barrett. “The catalyst is that AB 201’s integrated relationship with the CA Team made this happen.”
Capt. Michael Kelly, 443 CAB commander, agreed. “Our good relationships between the 435 AEW, 409 Air Expeditionary Group, 724 EABS, and FAN allow us to support an activity like this and to be a good partner to the government of Niger and a good neighbor to the Agadez community.”
Once it was worked out that AB 201 was a viable location for the donations, Campbell worked with the soldiers from the 443 CAB to determine what types of items would serve the local community best.
The donations, totaling more than 50 boxes of children’s clothes, toys, soccer balls, chalk, notebooks, and gardening supplies, were collected via a junior high school honor society at Ramstein AB. Once the boxes arrived at AB 201, soldiers from the 443 CAB and AB 201 chaplains sorted the items, to include sorting the clothes based on size and gender.
The donations will be distributed to more than 10 villages over multiple days throughout the months of January and February.
This was a volunteer effort to collect in-kind donations for an unofficial activity that is not related to any official business of the United States Air Force or Ramstein Air Base.
