FARGO, N.D. - A 2003 William H. Turner Technical Arts High School graduate and Miami native recently volunteered for Emergency Food Pantry North Dakota during Fargo-Moorhead Metro Navy Week.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Pierre Toussaint is a boatswain's mate serving with Navy Cargo Handling Battalion (NCHB) Unit 11 located in Jacksonville, Florida. He is responsible for loading planes with the essential requirements needed to complete missions both effectively and efficiently.
When asked what it means to him to volunteer in the Fargo community, Toussaint said, "It means a lot knowing I am helping package and distribute food to those that are less fortunate from different backgrounds with meals for the next couple of days."
The Emergency Food Pantry is a food distribution program whose mission is to provide hungry families and individuals with wholesome food to tide them over during times of crisis, unemployment, fire, family violence, medical problems, and other difficult situations.
Toussaint is the first of his family to join the military and says serving in the Navy is his proudest accomplishment.
"I have the opportunity to serve my country, see the world, go to college, and provide means for my family," he added.
Navy Weeks focus a variety of assets, equipment and personnel on a single city for a week-long series of engagements designed to bring America's Navy closer to the people it protects. It brings sailors from different units across the United States to conduct focused outreach events with members of the community in conjunction with an airshow featuring the Navy's flight demonstration squadron, the Blue Angels.
Serving in the Navy has made Toussaint a better overall person both professionally and personally.
"It means opportunity because it opened up doors for different people in different ways," he said. "For me, it was in the form of qualifications which allowed me to obtain a great career as a firefighter."
NCHBs is part of the Navy Seabees and provides the flexible support of logistics globally where needed by the U.S. Military. They are a rapidly deployable operating unit capable of loading/discharging ships and aircraft under all-climatic and threat conditions. Significant missions have included Republic of Vietnam in 1965 and Saudi Arabia for Operation Desert Storm.