Marines live to serve our country. On a recent Saturday, they spent the day in 100plus degree heat painting, shoveling, mowing, raking, stirring and pouring concrete as a service project for Marine Week Phoenix (Sept. 10-13). About 60 Marines worked alongside USAA employees to paint the library and prepare a baseball field at Crockett Elementary School in Phoenix. United Way is working to ensure youth succeed in school and life. We proudly partnered with USAA to bring this important project to life.

The volunteer project was especially important to Marine and Arizona native, Nancy Ibrahimovic.

“I particularly think it’s awesome that we’re coming to Phoenix, because I live and am from here,” she said. “Since there’s no Marine Corps base in Arizona, people generally don’t get to see us at work on a daily basis. When the community actually sees us out here giving back to them, they see the impact.”

Lieutenant General Berger, I Marine Expeditionary Force, served for 34 years echoed that sentiment and spirit of volunteerism.

“Marines volunteered to sign up for the Marine Corps and this is their chance to give back to the community. We’re not something separate; this is our home.”

Captain Craig Thomas, The Public Affair Officer for Marine Week, said it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for both the Marine Corps and the city where they volunteer.

“This is our chance to go out into the community and thank them for their support,” he said. “We’ve all come from a community, and whether we serve for four years or forty years, we’re going to go back to those communities when we’re done.”

Capt. Thomas said he and his fellow Marines follow the motto, “Ductus Exemplo,” Latin for “lead by example.”

“The community is where the next generation of Americans learns traits of hard work, discipline, loyalty,” he said. “If we want them to have those core values, we’ve got to go out there and live it ourselves.”

The volunteers’ hard work produced a fresher-looking library for Crockett Elementary students to learn in and a new field to play on.

Principal Steve Hannifin, who has served in the Coast Guard and the reserves, said volunteer projects like this help establish the school as the community hub.

“I can’t wait for when the kids come back on Monday,” he said. “When they ask who did these things, we get to talk about the Marines and what they do at a neighborhood level. To see a group come together for people they don’t know is so impactful for us and especially our students.”