Fincantieri donates $50,000 to the Jacksonville Naval Museum

Jacksonville-based Fincantieri Marine Repair has announced it is donating $50,000 to the Jacksonville (Fla.) Naval Museum. 

Fincantieri is now serving as a "hangar sponsor," a role that will provide $50,000 in funding over several years to provide necessary renovations and upgrades to the museum’s retired warship USS Orleck.

Fincantieri recently supported the museum by providing a specialized crane and volunteering a team of its U.S. veteran employees to help lift a historic QH-50 drone anti-submarine helicopter (DASH), weighing approximately 1,154 lbs., aboard the USS Orleck’s flight deck at no cost to the non-profit. In response to the sponsorship and ongoing support, the Jacksonville Naval Museum will dedicate its renovated hangar to the company upon completion of the work.

For the Military Order of the Purple Heart, a congressionally chartered U.S. war veterans organization, Fincantieri Marine Repair donated a dozen desktop computers with new hard drives after the non-profit experienced funding difficulties. Military Order of the Purple Heart employees are utilizing the computers from its headquarters in Springfield, Va., to process veteran benefits, scholarships, membership applications and reports more efficiently. 

“Fincantieri proudly supports our country’s armed forces through patronage and donation. Supporting those who earned Purple Hearts while in service is in direct line with our values, as is contributing to our local naval museum to educate and inspire future generation,” Fincantieri Marine Repair’s CEO Ryan W. Smith said in a statement. “Fincantieri recognizes that supporting worthy local and national organizations ultimately helps our community, employees and customers in the long run.”

“We are deeply appreciative of Fincantieri’s support. We wouldn’t have been able to position the DASH aboard the USS Orleck without Fincantieri’s crane or incurring significant cost," said Jacksonville Naval Museum President Daniel K. Bean. "This 1960s-era DASH is one of only 20 such helicopters in the world, and its position aboard the USS Orleck significantly increases the historical value of our museum.”