Manas Top 3 Council swings into action in Kyrgyzstan

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Les Waters
  • 376th Air Expeditionary Wing
MANAS AIR BASE, Kyrgyzstan (AFPN) --  What do you get when you combine 11 Airmen, a swing set and about 60 children? A recipe for success. 

Members from the Manas Air Base Top Three Council delivered a swing set to the Umut-Nadjeshda Children's Rehabilitation Center Aug. 20 in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. 

Officials from the U.S. Embassy transported the swing set to the center. The Top Three members also donated several boxes of items collected from the 4th Services Squadron Booster Club from Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C.

The children's center is home to children and teenagers ranging from ages 2 to 21. Most of them are physically handicapped, mentally disabled, or both.

The Top Three adopted the center as its local charity and provides more than just playgrounds. So far on this air and space expeditionary force rotation, they have spent more than 100 hours at the center doing everything from trimming bushes and mowing grass to installing a new swing set and collecting donations from family and friends in the U.S.

"This was my first trip to the Nadjeshda Center, and I'm grateful to have had an opportunity to go before redeploying back to the states," said Master Sgt. Mark Grim, assigned to the 376th Expeditionary Services Squadron and a Top Three member. "We delivered a new swing set, assembled it and still had an opportunity to play with the children on the set."

It only took about an hour for the group to work together and assemble the swing set. Even before the whole swing set was completed, the children were trying out the ones already done -- the swings and the four-passenger lawn swing. As the trapeze swing, wave slide and the two-passenger air-glider were completed, children were lining up to try them out.

"The center requested us to clean up the yard area so the kids could have a place to play without having to be taken across the street," said Master Sgt. Ronald Petersen, assigned to the 376th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron and a Top Three board member.

The Top Three members decided to take that request one step further. 

"The swing set was our idea to buy and install for them," Sergeant Petersen said. "Seeing the kids' faces as we set up the swing set made me realize what we are doing to help the center is the right thing. Without our help, these children would never experience what so many people take for granted. Each time we leave the center, I know we have left it just a little better then before."

To purchase the swing set, the Top Three solicited donations from its members and held two fundraisers. The first was a dunking booth at the Manas Air Base Fourth of July barbecue. The second was a push-up and sit-up competition.

The money will help provide the children with the basic amenities of life -- clothes food and shelter. The donations will also aid in providing physical therapy to those children in need. The center relies strictly on donations, and fills a great community need.

"If this center did not exist, the kids would be placed in a government home," Sergeant Petersen said. "The center tries to save as many of these kids as possible, but they can only do so much with the money they have." 

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