SOTO CANO AIR BASE, Honduras – Thirty-four service members assigned to Joint Task Force Bravo (JTF-B), Soto Cano Air Base, Honduras, embarked on a weekend volunteer mission to build a stable home for a local family.
The team, led by U.S. Air Force Maj. Kennie Neal, JTF-B command chaplain visited a nearby neighborhood in the department of La Paz, Honduras and began building a house Oct. 16-17, 2021.
“We were originally approached in August and told there was an opportunity to help build a house for a local family,” said Neal. “But when we found out it only took $3,000 in supplies to get started, we all thought – ‘We could raise that ourselves!’”
Neal began raising funds, the majority of which came during a resiliency day at Soto Cano Air Base where volunteers bid on different activities, including a pie-in-the-face contest.
With help from Honduras Compassion Partners, a non-profit organization that works with the local community, the 34-person team built the house from the ground up.
While the house was being constructed, the JTF-B team cooked food for the community, played various games with local children, and donated school and art supplies for them to get creative.
“I believe overall, we were able to donate more than $2,000 worth of clothing and other supplies to those we were supporting,” said Neal. “To see tears of joy that you bring to someone’s life, makes life truly worth living.”