USS Bataan Assist BPA in COMREL Project

USS Bataan (LHD 5) Sailors and Marines volunteered to assist Bradenton Preparatory Academy (BPA) in a community relations (COMREL) project by moving supplies Aug. 27, to help them prepare for the upcoming school year.

COMREL projects are events where Sailors and Marines can volunteer while on deployment or in their homeport to aid the local community.

“We got the chance to help the faculty and staff of BPA prepare for the start of school, so as they welcome new students and their families in, they’ll have a little bit of a head start,” said Lt. Hardy Owens, one of the chaplains aboard Bataan. “Now, they don’t have to worry about furniture and where it’s placed and they don’t have to worry about not having enough books ready.”

“We assisted teachers with setting up classrooms, we helped organize and dispense books and we were also asked to help put up bulletin boards,” said Chief (select) Boatswain’s Mate Kelly Hawkins, from Fort Myers, Florida. “These were tasks teachers needed done before school started.”

The new chief selects all agreed that it was a great opportunity for fun and fellowship.

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