Navy News, opinions, editorials, news from Iraq, photos, reports - Navy Times

Fleet Week sailors hammer for Habitat

OAKLAND PARK, Fla. — Operations Specialist 3rd Class Daniel Hendrix was having a ball. Hammer in hand, he was pounding shingles on the roof of a new home here alongside his shipmate, Operations Specialist Seaman Elisa Perez.

The pair had given up some of their liberty time to work for Habitat for Humanity of Broward County, along with crew members from their ship, the dock landing ship Carter Hall — one of seven Navy and one Coast Guard vessels that pulled into Fort Lauderdale, Fla., for this year’s Broward County Navy Days.

“This is more fun than our jobs on the ship,” Hendrix said with a wink and a laugh. “This is something that means something to people and something that will last.”

In fact, sailors from all of the ships pitched in during Fleet Week to help the Habitat finish two houses in Oakland Park, near Fort Lauderdale.

“We really appreciate what these sailors have done for us this week. They are all stars in my book,” said Robert Clifford, who works for Habitat for Humanity. “We had a number of them each day this week and they’ve done a lot of painting for us and shingled a roof and a half.”

Not all sailors pounded nails. Some visited schools and veterans homes, too. In all, more than 2,500 men and women from the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard descended on Fort Lauderdale’s port known as Port Everglades for the last week in April.

This year’s ships for Fleet Week include six Norfolk, Va.-based vessels, including the Carter Hall, the amphibious assault ship Iwo Jima, guided-missile cruiser Vella Gulf, guided-missile destroyers Mitscher and Ramage, as well as the fast-attack submarine Pittsburgh.

In addition, Marines from the 2nd Marine Division based in Camp Lejeune, N.C., and Coast Guardsmen from the Portsmouth, N.H.-based medium-endurance cutter Reliance.

Fleet Week wraps up Friday, with a salute onboard the Iwo Jima to the veterans of the World War II Pacific battle for which the ship is named.