# 99025. Denton Program Moves U.S. Donations by the Ton

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By Staff Sgt. Jeff Troth
Special to the American Forces Press Service

SOTO CANO AIR BASE, Honduras -- Churches and companies 
throughout America were readying to send food and supplies 
to Central America in November even before Hurricane 
Mitch's floodwaters receded. But how to get it there?

Atlanta had 200,000 pounds of food ready. Savannah 
donations included 50,000 pounds of sugar. A company in 
South Carolina offered 30,000 pounds of pasta a day. Their 
calls and others regarding donations went to Joint Relief 
International-Denton Operations at Pope Air Force Base, 
N.C.

The nonprofit contractor finds ways to move the civilian 
donations through military channels -- primarily by 
airlift, but whatever it takes, said spokeswoman Audra 
Murray. The relief group coordinates U.S. Transportation 
Command's Denton program, which allows the military to 
transport the civilian humanitarian donations worldwide on 
a space-available basis.

Transportation is one of the biggest expenses organizations 
face when trying to ship goods, Murray said. Flying 
donations from the United States to Central America could 
easily cost several thousands of dollars. That's money 
groups either don't have or would rather spend on more 
donations, she said.

Through the 1985 Denton Amendment, named after U.S. Sen. 
Jeremiah A. Denton of Alabama, the Air Force has shipped 
millions of pounds of humanitarian aid worldwide at no cost 
to the donors. The departments of Defense and State and 
U.S. Agency for International Development jointly 
administer the program.

Denton operations originally relied on unused cargo space 
on U.S. aircraft flying into Central America, but they've 
since expanded to include most areas of the world. Prior to 
Hurricane Mitch, the program last year moved more than 2.5 
million pounds of goods to 38 countries, including nearly 
all those in Central and South America, and Kenya, 
Mongolia, Armenia, South Africa and the Philippines.

In the first 10 weeks following the November hurricane, 
Central America alone received more than 4 million tons of 
donations through Denton program shipments.

"When the hurricane hit we had civilians all across the 
United States calling who wanted to donate hundreds of 
thousands of pounds of aid," Murray said. The large number 
of donations, in fact, overwhelmed the available military 
transport space to move them, she noted.

"Calls were coming in from all over the country. Officials 
at Piggly Wiggly, a grocery store in South Carolina, said, 
'Here's two tractor-trailers, fill them with your choice'," 
Murray added. "In New York City, 3,000 taxi cab drivers 
placed boxes in their cabs and collected food, clothing and 
other items. Those are the kinds of things that were 
happening and still are."

The Denton Program is very successful at getting supplies 
and food to those who need it, said Marine Maj. Anthony 
McGinty, Joint Task Force-Bravo deputy J-5 here. "Instead 
of the stuff going to a big warehouse and sitting for a 
week while someone decides what to do with it, the food, 
medicine and clothes go directly to nongovernmental 
organizations, and they distribute the stuff.

"Many of the organizations have been in country for years, 
so they know who needs what," McGinty added. "They already 
have a network in place to distribute the donated aid."

Murray, in Honduras to help assess operations, said she 
goes out and sees where food and supplies go after they 
leave the air base. In the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa, 
for instance, she visited the local Rotary Club's emergency 
operations center.

"A Rotary Club in Rhode Island organized a huge food and 
medicine drive and sent donations through the Denton 
program to the Rotary Club in Tegucigalpa," she said. 
Wives, Boy Scouts and other volunteers gathered at the club 
to sort, pack and prepare goods for transport to other 
Honduran Rotary Clubs.

"I asked the Rotarians how many people they had fed and 
they couldn't answer me. The stack of paper with the names 
of all those who've received assistance is about an inch 
and a half thick, and each piece of paper had at a minimum 
of 220 families on it," Murray said. "It's been an 
incredible thing to watch. It's really something to see the 
generosity and goodwill of U.S. citizens."

[Staff Sgt. Jeff Troth of the 49th Public Affairs 
Detachment (Airborne), Fort Bragg, N.C., is assigned to the 
U.S. military relief effort in Honduras.]

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