Multinational charity and love locked in boxes

Text: HQ MND-C | Photo: Cpt. Enikő Földházi | 12:22 December 17, 2021

For the second time, the Headquarters Multinational Division - Centre became an active participant in the Christmas donation campaign of the Hungarian Baptist Aid. The boxes – assembled, decorated and filled with gifts by the soldiers – were handed over on 15 December by Major General Denis Tretinjak, commander, Brigadier General Ernő Péter Siposs, deputy commander and Chief Sergeant Major Mario Mateljic, command senior enlisted leader to Norbert Király, director of logistics in the relief organization’s logistic center in Pákozd.

For many of us, preparing for the holidays involves a number of joyful tasks: making an Advent wreath, planning the Christmas menu, coordinating family visits and choosing gifts for our loved ones. However, there are those who have to make a huge effort even to put food on the festive table. For them, a Christmas gift remains a distant dream. Or, it would remain a distant dream if the Shoe Box Action brought to life by the Hungarian Baptist Aid did not help. Soldiers of the Headquarters Multinational Division - Centre (HQ MND-C) joined this selfless initiative for the second time this year.

The training year of 2020 for the HQ MND-C was even more intense than last year, with international exercises Defender Europe 2021 and the recently completed Alligator Sword 2021. Moreover, the headquarters has been performing a number of tasks to ensure that the organization is officially becoming the part of NATO’s force structure in the near future. Nevertheless, towards the end of the year, in addition to the operational tasks the soldiers joined forces for a nobler purpose. In order to take care of others, the Székesfehérvár-based headquarters collected charity boxes with great joy already in 2020, the year HQ MND-C started its activities. As there are sensitive hearts beating under the military uniforms, regardless of their colour or pattern, for the organization consisting of Croatian, Hungarian and Slovakian troops, there was no question about joining the initiative this year, too.

When handing over the boxes, Major General Tretinjak stated that he considered it important for HQ MND-C to actively support charitable initiatives such as the Shoe Box Action organized for the eighteenth time by the Hungarian Baptist Aid which is celebrating its quarter-century anniversary this year. Major General Tretinjak expressed his respect towards everyone involved in the Christmas donation which runs Hungary-wide in approximately 400 locations until 19 December. For the organizers and donors, the gift is the smile lit upon the children’s faces, the commander added.

Galéria