WOCs take time to help Lakewood neighborhood during their community project

Photo By Joseph Siemandel | Warrant Officer Candidate Dante Digiustino, a Human Resources Technician candidate with Class 23-001, picks up garbage along a street as part of Class 23-001’s civil-military project in Lakewood, Wash, March 4, 2023. Warrant Officer Candidate School requires each WOCS class to identify, plan and execute a community project to graduate to the final phase of their training. Class 23-001 worked with the City of Lakewood’s Parks and Recreation to identify and coordinate picking up trash along two different streets near the Emergency Food Network Distribution Warehouse, where candidates would assist with packing boxes of food. (U.S. National Guard photo by Joseph Siemandel)  

LAKEWOOD, WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES

03.07.2023

Story by Joseph Siemandel  

Joint Force Headquarters - Washington National Guard

Warrant Officer Candidates (WOC) assigned to Class 23-001 of the Washington National Guard’s Warrant Officer Candidate School, taught at the 205th Regional Training Institute at Camp Murray, took to the streets of Lakewood, Wash on March 4, 2023, to complete their community project requirement for continuation in the program.

“Every WOC class does a civil-military project and those look different from class to class but we wanted to maximize the impact we could have among the civil component,” said WOC Dante Digiustino, a human resources technician candidate with Class 23-001.

The Warrant Officer Candidate School requires each class to identify, plan and execute a community project to graduate to the final phase of training. Class 23-001 worked with the city of Lakewood’s Parks and Recreation to identify and coordinate picking up trash along two different streets near the Emergency Food Network Distribution Warehouse, where candidates would assist with packing boxes of food.

“This was a great opportunity to invest a little bit of time to an organization that supports an immediate need of the community,” said Digiustino.

Candidates spent more than two hours creating and packing boxes with meals for residents of Pierce County that are in need. The Pierce County emergency food system includes more than 75 food pantries and hot meal sites, which provide more than 12.2 million meals annually. As the sole nonprofit food distributor located in Pierce County, many food programs are dependent on Emergency Food Network for food.

“We understand Lakewood and Pierce County as a whole had a need and we wanted to make the biggest impact that we could,” said Digiustino. “We are just doing our part to make the city of Lakewood a little bit better for everyone.”

After completing their work at the Emergency Food Network, the candidates returned to clean up more street areas in Lakewood.

“We basically sandwiched our cleaning up efforts with packing boxes, really making sure that we were donating as many hours as we could,” said Diguistino.

• Date Taken: 03.07.2023
• Date Posted: 03.07.2023 16:46
• Story ID: 439888
• Location: LAKEWOOD, WASHINGTON, US