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Manas supports local service organizations

  • Published
  • By Senior Master Sgt. Stefan Alford
  • 376th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
MANAS AIR BASE, Kyrgyzstan --  There's an old adage that it's better to give than to receive, but for two Manas community service organizations here whose charters are to provide support to others, it was a pleasant change to be on the other end of a donation December 4. 

The Manas Air Base Outreach Society and the Manas Service Organization were each presented with checks for $5,000 from the Royal Exodus Colonial Club. It was the third time this year that the RECC has donated funds to aid Manas organizations in supporting the local community through volunteer service projects.
 
"You enable us to go out and give from the heart and that's important because it validates the purity and good of our charity organizations," said Col. Harrison Smith, 376th Air Expeditionary Wing Commander, as he thanked the RECC representative during the check presentation at the Chapel. 

The RECC is a leisure club at a forward operating location in the AOR. Like the officers' club at many installations back in the United States and Great Britain, the RECC is a place where members socialize after work. The difference is that all of the proceeds go to charity. 

The RECC then donates those proceeds to various charity organizations around the world. Previous donations include money for impoverished in Djibouti in the Horn of Africa, support to a "breakfast club" to feed school children in Kenya and money to build wells in Uganda. 

The organization, which has been around since about 2003, also gave $5,000 to the Manas Village Partnership Program earlier this year, as well as $10,000 in August - which was also split between MABOS and MSO. Tuesday's gift brings the total to $25,000 that RECC has contributed this year to help Manas community service organizations make a difference in the lives of its Kyrgyz neighbors. 

"Manas has some extraordinary and very extensive outreach programs, whether it's for a kindergarten, school, orphanage or cancer ward," said Lt. Col. Brenda Crook, the RECC representative who presented the checks on the organization's behalf. "These efforts here show that the Air Force is not just combat operations in the AOR, but that we are supporting the local communities in a very positive way." 

Those beneficiaries provided their gratitude in absentia through Capt. (Father) Ricardo Salditos of the 376th AEW Chapel, representing MABOS, and 1st Lt. Darin Roberts, representing the MSO. 

"On behalf of the orphans, the elderly, the handicapped and sick children, I and the members of MABOS would like to express our deepest gratitude for this generous donation," said Father Ricardo. "Rest assured that this will make a big difference in the lives of the less fortunate in our midst." 

The money the MSO receives for the Village Partnership Program is used to buy materials to support community renovation projects in the six villages surrounding the base. This includes the renovations of schools, community centers and other public projects identified by the village mayors. 

MABOS, meanwhile, works with local charities to support the Greater Bishkek area. Outreach efforts include work with existing charities, such as orphanages, medical facilities for children, elderly foundations, and Habitat for Humanity. MABOS has focus groups with ten such organizations and, since its creation in December 2003, has invested approximately 40,000 hours in the local community.