SHORE INTERMEDIATE MAINTENANCE ACTIVITY

Shore Intermediate Maintenance Activity (SIMA), Norfolk provides a wide variety of community service efforts through the Adopt-a-School program with area elementary and vocational schools and Junior Achievement Consultant Programs. The team of volunteers takes on their tasks with a great deal of pride and satisfaction, providing positive role models to the communities’ youth and knowing that the students they train today will be future leaders of tomorrow. As the U.S. Navy’s largest maintenance activity, SIMA Norfolk has a proud tradition of assisting our nation’s youth by providing a unique perspective into the world of high production industrial maintenance.

Norfolk volunteers spend countless hours at Norfolk Technical Vocational Center (NTVC) and Church land Academy assisting students and teachers in teaching highly technical curriculums such as air conditioning principles, electrical repair, and computer network administration. The volunteers also serve as safety observers and guides during many school field trips and during laboratory work. Another example of SIMA’s sincere commitment to education is the scholarship fund awarded each year for the past three years to two graduating seniors at NTVC in the amount of $1000 each. The funds were raised through donut sales and volunteering off-duty hours manning a concession booth at Harbor Park during Norfolk Tides baseball games. In addition, SIMA Norfolk provided apprenticeship opportunities to three students from the Chesapeake Bay Academy. Students learned skills in database entry; computer aided engraving processes, and production documentation and tracking.

Operation School Supplies was developed to gather much needed school supplies for low-income children. Through their partnership with WAVY TV-10, a program was developed for the drop-off, pick-up, sorting, warehousing, and distribution of donated school supplies. In 2000, 65 SIMA Norfolk volunteers provided more than 2,300 off-duty man-hours collecting, transporting, warehousing, and distributing 22,000 different school supplies, double the number of school supplies collected from the previous year. More than 62,000 low-income children across the Tidewater community, in eight different school districts, benefited directly from this project.

The Coats for Kids Project collected useable winter coats for low-income children of Hampton Roads area. This project was a combined effort between WAVY TV-10, McDonalds, Albano Cleaners, and SIMA. In 2000,47 SIMA volunteers provided 1,200 off-duty man-hours collecting coats. As a result of their efforts, over 10,000 needy people were provided with a warm winter coat to wear last year when the area experienced severe inclement weather.

Southeastern Virginia Food bank works to ensure food is provided to low-income families. The partnership between the Food bank of Southeastern Virginia and SIMA has been long and beneficial to the people of South Hampton Roads. In 2000,350 SIMA volunteers provided 6,000 man-hours making this project a great success, evidenced by SIMA Norfolk winning the food bank’s military volunteer award for two consecutive years.