Eight teams of Hughes employees, families, and friends have spent some of their summer Saturdays over the past three years providing a very special type of community service. The volunteer teams, usually 15 to 20 people at a time, gather in Washington, D.C. to quietly wash, with soap and water, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial—known by many as simply “The Wall.” The volunteers also clean the statues associated with the memorial and clear the area of trash and debris. Part of a dedicated volunteer effort under the guidance of the National Park Service, the Hughes employees performed this service on four Saturdays in 2009.
“It’s been an honor to be a regular volunteer at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial,” said Allen McCabe, assistant vice president of Consumer Sales with Hughes. “It’s much more than just cleaning the memorial to remove bird droppings and sunscreen. It’s also a way for people to remember the ultimate sacrifice paid by over 58,000 young men and women. Most of us grew up during that time period, and we try to give something back Hughes Teams Tend Vietnam Veterans Memorial to those heroes. We’ll be working on the 2010 schedule later this year and I invite any Hughes employees interested in participating in a ‘Wall Washing’ next year to contact me at allen.mccabe@hughes.com.”