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Collaborate on Project to Provide Library and Archival Materials for Convent on Tarawa,
In a rare opportunity for joint civic involvement with the U.S.
military, the Wilmington, N. C., Downtown Rotary club recently collaborated
with the Navy to provide library and archives items to the Daughters of Our
Lady of the Sacred Heart convent on Tarawa, Republic of Kiribati. The club collected and shipped the items in May to the Navy’s
Project Handclasp in Navy public affairs officer Lt. Comdr. Nancy Harrity, who
accompanied and helped facilitate the project, announced the delivery from " The 23-box shipment included new and used World War II non-fiction
books and numerous related DVDs/VHS videotapes, and magazines. The The historical items will supplement the orderly, but limited,
convent library/archives which serves the Tarawa community and The project resulted from a WWII battlefield tour to Tarawa led by
Rotarian Wilbur Jones in November 2008 for the 65th anniversary of the Jones, a retired Navy captain, author and military historian, spent
one week there. “We visited the convent and were impressed with how little
information they had on the Pacific War, WWII in general, and their
liberation,” Jones said. “The sisters were enthused about the potential
project.” He maintained frequent email contact with Sister Margaret as the
project developed. Jones and Downtown club president Melissa Hight coordinated the
club's drive to collect and ship the items. He contacted the The club rushed to complete the collection so its shipment would
arrive in Funding for items and shipping came from a small Rotary Foundation
grant and member contributions. Jones will lead a week-long return battlefield tour to Lt. Comdr. Harrity noted that Project Handclasp, by which the Navy
vessels transport goods donated by Americans to the nations the Navy visits,
ensured safe delivery to Kiribati, with no cost or customs paperwork for the
Rotary Club or the convent. According to Pacific Partnership works by, with and through partner nations,
non-governmental organizations and other This year's mission was focused ashore with a variety of
engineering, medical and dental, and civic action programs providing
humanitarian assistance, Harrity said. The mission also included stops in the
Republic of the
Wilmington Rotary Club Rotary Club Ships Books to Tarawa Convent
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