Airmen deliver wheelchairs in Honduras

[unhappycamper]

Airmen deliver wheelchairs in Honduras
Staff report
Posted : Thursday Jan 3, 2008 11:57:27 EST

Airmen and soldiers stationed with Joint Task Force-Bravo began delivering the first batch of 460 wheelchairs to handicapped Hondurans through an evangelical organization based in Alabama.

Two Army CH-47 Chinook helicopters delivered 100 wheelchairs along Honduras’ Miskito Coast, where many lobster fishermen have lost their legs in diving accidents or from decompression sickness. More wheelchairs, built by volunteers, will be delivered to other rural parts of the country.

“It's important to show we're here to support them since we’re guests in their country,” said Army Sgt. 1st Class Julio Reyes of Joint Task Force-Bravo. Delivering them in trucks would have been time-consuming and difficult given the terrain.

The nonprofit Missions Unlimited, working through U.S. Agency for International Development, brought the wheelchairs to Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., where they were ferried to Shaw Air Force Base, S.C., and, ultimately, flown to Soto Cano Air Base in Honduras.

Through the federal Denton Amendment, U.S. organizations can transport charitable goods such as clothes or even tractors on available space in military aircraft. In fiscal 2006, roughly 576,000 pounds of goods were transported to 12 different nations through this amendment, according to the Air Force.


Article at: http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2008/01/airforce_honduras_080103w/



uhc comment: I did a little reading on the 1984 Denton Amendment and came up with the following web pages:

http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/cross-cutting_programs/private_voluntary_cooperation/denton.html
http://usinfo.state.gov/journals/itps/1104/ijpe/topic.htm
http://dentonfoundation.org/resources/FY2004ANNUALREPORT.pdf
--> http://books.google.com/books?id=AabywLOknbsC&pg=PA174&lpg=PA174&dq=denton+amendment&source=web&ots=p-xruPRUIt&sig=1mZCbUXHnWZsNy95lpy5er26vLo#PPA177,M1


If you're interesting in reading more, this web search tuns up 208,000 hits.

[MADem]

1. Project HANDCLASP is frequently run by chaplains... NT