2009 News
Comfort Crew Builds Nutrition Center
Members of the Construction Maintenance Unit on board hospital ship USNS Comfort are building a nutrition center in La Union, El Salvador, during their 10-day visit as part of Continuing Promise 2009.
The 22 Navy Engineers have been part of the mission since the Comfort departed Virginia and have built in all their stops in the Hemisphere clinics, schools and have expanded existing infrastructure to benefit people in the different countries.
The U.S. Navy Engineers, also known as SEABEES, are working alongside 20 Salvadoran military engineers constructing the nutrition center that will benefit children in El Havillal community in La Union. The SEABEES are simultaneously working on building the fence around school Club de Leones, also located in La Union.
"We were not expecting to be benefited with such assistance." said 83 year-old Felicita Campos de Argueta, who lives with her grandchildren in El Havillal. "The smaller ones will go to this nutrition center and will grow up healthier", she said.
Continuing Promise 2009 is an opportunity to provide humanitarian aid but also to learn from host nation partners and train a diverse team of experts who are able to respond to a regional crisis. This mission serves as an enabling platform for all participants to coordinate and carry out humanitarian civic assistance efforts.
Comforts crew is expected to be in El Salvador until July and will continue to Nicaragua as the last stop of four month humanitarian and civic assistance mission in Latin America and the Caribbean.