ARTICLE - GIFT AIDS MILITARY CHARITY - HAITIANS

GIFT AIDS MILITARY CHARITY, HAITIANS
(TBO) - By Keith Morelli

A Wesley Chapel charity that ships care packages to U.S. troops overseas is going into the ship painting business to bolster its income, thanks to a donation of a 163-foot National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) research vessel that will serve as a training headquarters in Haiti.

Support Our Troops founder Bob Williams said a benefactor who wishes to remain anonymous bought the ship at a government auction and donated it to his charity.

The vessel currently is moored in a private shipyard in Green Cove Springs, south of Jacksonville. The plan is to sail it next month to Tampa, where it will be outfitted with new lines and hoses and whatever else is needed.

The ship is relatively new, Williams said.

"It's a 163-foot research ship that had all of 200 days at sea," he said. It's powered by a pair of diesel engines "that have 98 percent of their life left in them," he said.

The $3 million ship will be used to kick off a venture that will make needed money for the charity, he said.

After its stay in Tampa, the vessel, newly named King, will sail to Haiti, where it will be used as a floating hotel and headquarters for retired and disabled U.S. sailors who will teach Haitians how to paint ships.

The endeavor is part of a Support Our Troops/Sherwin Williams collaboration, he said. Also involved is a school in Haiti that trains students in ship painting, scraping and pressure washing, he said.

Once the first crew of about 60 Haitians is trained, it will continue to paint tankers and freighters in Haiti.

The painters will make good money, Williams said, noting that the plan is to undercut ship painting operations in the neighboring Dominican Republic.

Proceeds will go to the Support Our Troops coffers and be used to ship needed items such as deodorant and coffee and comfort items, such as cigars and snacks, to troops in Afghanistan and the Middle East.

Already a number of retired Navy and Coast Guard sailors have volunteered to sail the ship, he said.

All that's needed to make the trip is diesel fuel, and he is hoping to get someone to donate that.

Right now, the only glitch seems to be finding a place to moor the ship in Tampa, he said.

"We're looking for 80 feet of dock space," he said, "so we can get people on and off."