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Florida Business Donates 10,000-Gallon Water Bladder to Navy Marine Corps Team
Story Number: NNS050107-06
Release Date: 1/7/2005 11:35:00 AM
By Chief Journalist Walter T. Ham IV, USS Bonhomme Richard Public Affairs
ABOARD USS BONHOMME RICHARD, At Sea (NNS) -- Interstate Products, Inc., donated a 10,000-gallon collapsible water bladder to the Navy/Marine Corps team aboard San Diego-based USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) (BHR) as it prepared to conduct humanitarian assistance operations in Indonesia.
Supply Officer Cmdr. Randy W. Moore contacted company president Scott Sagalow to assist in filling a purchase-order for a variety of 250 to 2000-gallon water bladders during the weekend of New Year's Eve. Sagalow was willing to donate the massive bladder.
“Our desalinization plants can produce thousands of gallons of fresh water, but then where do you put it all? That was what we were trying to figure out,” said Moore. “Since it was New Year’s weekend and many places were closed, we got authorization to increase the cap on our Navy Credit Card to get collapsible water bladders by open purchase. So, then we went to the Internet and started looking around for contractors who could meet this requirement.”
In the meantime, Bonhomme Richard, under the command of Capt. J. Scott Jones, was speeding toward the disaster region, where it's currently onsite.
While the ship’s attached helicopters are unable to transport the 10,000-gallon bladder while it’s full of water, the collapsible bladder will be transported ashore empty and used in conjunction with the Marines’ ground-based Reserve Osmosis Purification Units to provide a large and refillable fresh water supply for tsunami victims.
Sagalow said he already wanted to make a donation to the tsunami relief efforts, but had not be able to reach anyone before Moore called him.
“So he ended up giving it directly to the Navy Marine Corps team as we take it to where it is needed the most,” Moore said. “It was gratifying how he was so willing and so quickly able to donate it.”
Bonhomme Richard is the flagship of Expeditionary Strike Group Five, conducting humanitarian relief operations off the coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra.
For related news on Navy tsunami relief operations, visit the Focus on Tsunami Relief Operations page at www.navy.mil/local/tsunami.
For related news, visit the USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) Navy NewsStand page at www.news.navy.mil/local/lhd6.
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