Westlake High graduate hikes food to needy
By Tech. Sgt. William Farrow Joint Task Force-Bravo public affairs

What began as way for the outdoor enthusiasts assigned to Soto Cano Air Base, Honduras, to see the local countryside has grown into a monthly event in which hikers trek through the rural mountains delivering goods to villagers.

One participating hiker, a 1980 graduate of Westlake High School, said the event wasn't solely an opportunity to get a firsthand look at local Honduran life, but also a chance to show the local people U.S. military members are more than just war fighters.

"I went as an ambassador and to give a little back to the Honduran community," said Air Force Master Sgt. Jim Christian, JTFBravo Medical Element unit supply superintendent.

Christian is assigned to Ramstein Air Base, Germany, but is pulling a four-month temporary assignment here, supervising the section responsible for purchasing and resupplying the base's medical element.

Known as MEDEL, the unit provides healthcare support to the personnel of JTFBravo and humanitarian, civic assistance and disaster relief to other nations throughout central and South America.

Sgt. Christian's section may be responsible for maintaining the accountability for $2.3 million worth of equipment and supplies, but during the recent hike, he realized how important a few boxes of groceries are to the people living in rural Honduras

"The mothers and children would run up and swarm around us- and I was so glad to give the food and toys- but in hindsight, I wished I had more to hand out, but I could only carry so much," he said.

Christian feels blessed, he said, that he's had the opportunity to volunteer and help the locals here in Honduras.

"Of my 18 years in the Air Force- and only 30 days into my 120day stay here- I can honestly say this has been one of the most rewarding opportunities, because we see the difference we all are making firsthand," Christian said.

More than 60 servicemembers participated in the most recent hike, lugging boxes of prepackaged meals, cornmeal, pasta and other dry goods and handing it off to local Honduran families along a threemile stretch of mountainous terrain.

The hikes started in the fall of 2007 when an Air Force chaplain put together a series of hikes as a way for people to get in a day of exercise.

After the chaplain learned the base had an excess supply of prepackaged food, the hikers began to take it along and distribute it to people living along the rural roads and trails in the mountains surrounding Comayagua, a city of about 80,000.

Carrying on that tradition is Air Force chaplain Jeremy Bastian, a captain, who said that Army, Navy and Air Force members coming together to remote villages and taking food to the Honduran people embodies the ideals of a joint task force venture.

"The tremendous outpouring of support for the chapel hikes is simply incredible," he said. "It's great to be able to help people overcome adversity," he said.

The hikers distributed about 2,000 pounds of food during the most recent hike on Feb. 2, Bastian said.

"The food was bought with $500 from the tithes of the chapel community- these are not government funds, but money contributed from the pockets of the Joint Task ForceBravo community," he said.

Collectively throughout the series of hikes, more than 400 servicemembers traveled 41 miles to deliver more than 2.6 tons of food to about 2,200 people.