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02
July
2020
|
09:00 AM
America/Chicago

Ariz. Members Transporting Food to Quarantine Facilities

Capt. Margot Myers
Public Affairs Officer
Arizona Wing

Phoenix-area squadrons in Civil Air Patrol’s Arizona Wing are transporting food to two facilities where people affected by the COVID-19 pandemic are quarantined.

The mission began in mid-June in response to a Maricopa County Department of Health request tasked through the Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs.

A minimum of two wing members are required to carry out the mission, driving a Civil Air Patrol van to the UMOM Helping Hand Café in downtown Phoenix on Saturday and Sunday afternoons to pick up containers filled with prepared meals. The containers are delivered to two hotels and handed off to Health Department employees, who remove the meals and return the empty containers to the CAP members.

The empty containers are then returned to UMOM, and the day’s mission is complete.

“This particular tasking is exceedingly simple and extraordinarily important,” said Lt. Col. Paul Rehman, who is serving as incident commander. If we fail to deliver on our promise of fulfilling this mission, we’ll have left hungry people without meals.

“This is our chance to demonstrate to our county and state partners that we are a resource they can count on today and in the future when other mission needs arise.” Rehman said.

Squadrons throughout the Phoenix area were asked to volunteer teams to handle the deliveries.

As a Total Force partner and the U.S. Air Force auxiliary, Civil Air Patrol is aligned with First Air Force to rapidly respond to non-military threats domestically. With this mission members are working as an Air Force component in a Defense Support of Civil Authorities capacity.