Courtesy Photo | U.S. Army Staff Sgt. David Figueroa, a paratrooper assigned to the 173rd Airborne...... read more read more
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VAIVE, Latvia - U.S. Army paratroopers with the 173rd Airborne Brigade out of Vicenza, Italy and the 500th Engineer Company, 15th Engineer Battalion based out of Grafenwoehr, Germany, joined Latvian soldiers for a community outreach event at the Zvanninieki Alternative Family Home May 30, 2014, in Vaive, Latvia.
The event, organized by the U.S. Embassy in Latvia, gave the Soldiers an opportunity to help the home’s residents. Over the course of the day, the soldiers gathered and chopped fire wood, laid the foundation for a barn, and dug a trench to supply clean water for the home’s animals.
The Zvanninieki Family Home has been run by Reverend Juris Calitis, a Harvard Divinity School graduate, and his wife, Sandra Dzenite-Calite, since 2001. Overlooking 72-acres of land, located in the municipality of Vaive, this countryside farmhouse is a center for children and adults in need of guardianship and a place to stay.
The couple currently cares for 30 people at the house, ranging in age from 2 to 27 years old. They provide the home’s guests with education, creative outlets like music and art, and time and space for self-growth.
The soldiers’ coop construction project included laying stones around two small areas of water to prevent erosion. Soldiers from the 500th Engineer Company excavated a ditch around a pre-determined rectangular area of dirt that would later be filled in with concrete for the coop, while wheelbarrows full of stone were shoveled out and layered by Soldiers around the bodies of water.
“We’ve brought out all of our engineer assets required to do this job,” said U.S. Army 1st Lt. Erin Malapit, of the 500th Engineer Company. “Our goal here is to increase the quality of life [here] and make them more comfortable.”
Together, U.S. and Latvian soldiers gathered and chopped wood from the nearby forest to supply the home with enough wood for the colder months of winter. The allied soldiers moved through the woods, sawing through trees and loading them on military vehicles to be brought back to the house.
“It’s always good to help,” said Spc. Kurt Krizek, a paratrooper with the 173rd Airborne Brigade. “If we get the bulk of the wood loaded while we’re here, it will be a huge help to the home.”
“The countryside is a very therapeutic place for those who are stressed,” Calitis said. “We want this to be a place where people seek council and we let them come as they are.”
Calitis said he and Sandra were very grateful for the Soldiers’ help and outreach. Their future plans include a second floor to the home to take in more families and renovations to all the buildings on the farmland to keep everyone comfortable.
The “Sky Soldiers” from the 173rd Airborne Brigade and engineers from the 500th Engineer Company, 15th Engineer Battalion, 18th Military Police Brigade are in Latvia conducting allied training exercises and horizontal groundwork to demonstrate the U.S. Army’s ongoing commitment to its NATO allies.
The 173rd Airborne Brigade is the U.S. Army’s contingency response force in Europe, and is capable of projecting forces to conduct the full range of military operations across the United States European, Central and Africa commands’ areas of responsibilities.
| Date Taken: | 05.30.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 06.03.2014 11:47 |
| Story ID: | 131927 |
| Location: | VAIVE, AIZKRAUKLES APRINKIS, LV |
| Web Views: | 969 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Europe-based Soldiers lend helping hand to Latvian shelter, by SSG Seth LaCount, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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