AL UDEID AIR BASE, Qatar -- AL UDEID AIR BASE, Qatar -- Airmen assigned to the 379th Expeditionary Maintenance Group and 379th Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron teamed up to gather over $79K in supplies for victims of a 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck central Turkey and Syria in February.
Staff Sgt. Devon Dash, 379th Expeditionary Maintenance Squadron administrative assistant, and Capt. Yury Volkovinsky, 379th Expeditionary Operations Group and 379th EMXG chaplain, organized the collection of aid for victims of the earthquake. They established contact with Red Cross personnel on the ground in Turkey to determine how they could help.
The original plan was for members of the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing to donate personally purchased items. Tech. Sgt. Audreianor Handsome-Crawford, 379th ELRS section chief of personal property and passenger travel, reached out to Dash to contribute to the effort.
Handsome-Crawford found out about a warehouse here at AUAB that was holding supplies that were left over from Operation Allies Refuge in 2021.
After coordinating the distribution of the warehouse with the 379th ELRS material management flight, it was decided that half of the supplies would go to refugees at Camp As Sayliyah, Qatar, and that the rest would be sent to Turkey for earthquake relief.
With the help of Staff Sgt. Jermayne Rose, 379th ELRS non-commissioned officer in charge of transit shipping point, and Staff Sgt. Daniel Woolley, 379th EMXG unit travel representative, the group worked swiftly to palletize the cargo to ensure it was ready for transport. Between personal donations and the warehouse’s contribution, over 16K items were collected. The pallets included a plethora of essential items to include diapers and a variety of toiletries.
Rose sourced the pallets for airlift and assisted with building and getting the weight dimensions of the pallets. Once this was complete, Woolley arranged personnel and vehicles to transport the equipment from the ELRS warehouse to the EMXG’s facility.
In 2018, Woolley faced a similar disaster while he was stationed at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska. A 7.8 magnitude earthquake devastated Anchorage, JBER’s neighboring city. Since he witnessed the event and damage caused firsthand, he felt a personal connection to the victims of February’s incident.
“It’s difficult when all the stores are destroyed and there are no supplies,” said Woolley. “I feel for the people of Turkey and what they have to endure following the earthquake.”
The finished pallets are on standby for transport to those affected by the disaster, and the group is aiming to deliver even more supplies to Turkey.