For safety reasons, ITT Corporation employees working on the Global Maintenance and Supply Services (GMASS) program at Joint Base Balad, Iraq can’t freely venture outside of the military base where they maintain and upgrade vehicles, but that doesn’t keep them from equipping local Iraqi children to succeed in school.
ITT Systems Division staff at Balad organized a fundraising competition, with a pizza party going to the winning team, as part of an effort to purchase backpacks and school supplies. In just two weeks, they raised $3,700 to purchase colorful school backpacks and partnered with the U.S. Army’s 1-402nd Field Support Brigade and 37th Engineer Battalion to provide paper, pencils, paints, a toy and some candy to fill the backpacks.
Once the materials were purchased, ITT employees, working during their off-duty hours, stuffed the packs with the supplies and turned them over to U.S. Army personnel at Joint Base Balad for distribution to children at a school about 10km from the base. Since the ITT Balad team ended up exceeding their original fundraising goal, they are already working to prepare a second batch of supplies for schoolchildren in another local Iraqi town.
“Hopefully our efforts will help the military build relations in the surrounding area, encourage the local children, and make the area safer for soldiers, civilians and Iraqis in the long run,” said ITT Systems Program Manager Jeff Meo.
ITT Systems Division staff at Balad organized a fundraising competition, with a pizza party going to the winning team, as part of an effort to purchase backpacks and school supplies. In just two weeks, they raised $3,700 to purchase colorful school backpacks and partnered with the U.S. Army’s 1-402nd Field Support Brigade and 37th Engineer Battalion to provide paper, pencils, paints, a toy and some candy to fill the backpacks.
Once the materials were purchased, ITT employees, working during their off-duty hours, stuffed the packs with the supplies and turned them over to U.S. Army personnel at Joint Base Balad for distribution to children at a school about 10km from the base. Since the ITT Balad team ended up exceeding their original fundraising goal, they are already working to prepare a second batch of supplies for schoolchildren in another local Iraqi town.
“Hopefully our efforts will help the military build relations in the surrounding area, encourage the local children, and make the area safer for soldiers, civilians and Iraqis in the long run,” said ITT Systems Program Manager Jeff Meo.
