University Donates Textbooks, English Materials to Iraqis

[NYVet]

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=52100


CAMP MITTICA, Iraq, Nov. 26, 2008 – In a country with a desperate need for engineers, two 402nd Army Field Support Brigade contractors are bridging an Oregon university with Iraqi students and faculty thirsty for knowledge.

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Joshua Mater, president of the Michael Scott Mater Foundation, and Jesus Quispe, vice president of the foundation, presented Chancellor Ali Ismael Obeidi al-Snafi of Dhi Qar University with the books, worth $20,000, as well as English-as-a-second-language materials from the Book Wish Foundation and Oxford University Press. The English materials are from the Headway Program, which teaches English as a second language.

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Mater is the 402nd AFSB’s operations officer, and Quispe is the redistribution property accountability team administrator for the brigade’s 2nd Battalion logistics function. Both work for Honeywell Technology Solutions.

The Michael Scott Mater Foundation is a nonprofit group that aims to provide better education for poor students and communities around the world by providing education, life skills, equal rights, values and a caring environment, according to the foundation’s Web site.

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“This is a time for Iraqi heroes. They will do what is hard and achieve what is great.”

The foundation is named for Mater’s father, Michael Scott Mater, who was president of Mater Engineering of Corvallis, Ore. He was at the forefront of community development and improvement projects, and died of cancer in 2002.