Marine Headline News
Navy-Marine
Corps Relief Society breaks fund raising record - The
Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society recently completed its most
successful active duty fund drive ever on island, according to
NMCRS officials. The
society’s island wide coordinator 1st Lt. Amanda A. Coleman,
and Keira Bishop, director of NMCRS of Okinawa, presented a
check for $464,736 to Brig. Gen. James F. Flock, Marine
Corps Base Camp Butler commanding general, June 8, officially
concluding the drive.
The proceeds from
the fund drive will be donated to the NMCRS global relief
fund, Bishop said.
“It’s
important for Marines and sailors to contribute in any way to
NMCRS because they help any Marine or sailor in need,” Flock
said. “No one knows when a family emergency will occur,
whether it’s local or in his or her hometown.”
The contributions
help Marines and sailors with food, shelter, vehicle repairs,
medical, dental, funerals, emergency transportation and
relocation expenses, Bishop said.
According to
Bishop, education is also a program offered by NMCRS. Last
year, the education program approved $2.4 million in
scholarships and grants for education to sailors, Marines and
their families.
The NMCRS provides
many other forms of assistance as well, according to Coleman.
Visiting nurses are available and cared for more than 33,000
patients last year. Thirty-two thrift shops, operated by
NMCRS, offer low-cost clothing and household items to Marines
in 32 different locations as well.
The NMCRS provided
more than $34 million in relief aid to nearly 45,000 cases
last year. The emergency aid program awarded more than $26
million in interest-free loans and more than $4 million
towards education, Bishop concluded.
The defining
factor in this year’s outstanding success was the way that
the drive was approached, Coleman said. This year, instead of
setting a dollar amount as a goal for the drive, NMCRS decided
to shoot for a different goal.
“Education was
the key to this drive,” Coleman said. “We tried to contact
and inform all 18,842 Marines on Okinawa. We contacted 99
percent of them, and we feel it really paid off.”
Another key factor
to the success of this year’s drive was the tireless hours
of work and dedication by the unit representatives. Coleman
mentioned that they were the workhorses of the drive who went
out to the units to inform them about the opportunity to
contribute.
CAMP FOSTER,
OKINAWA, Japan — Brig. Gen. James F. Flock, Marine Corps
Base Camp Butler commanding general; Keira Bishop, Director of
the Navy Marine Corps Relief Society of Okinawa; and 1st Lt.
Amanda A. Coleman, NMCRS islandwide coordinator, proudly show
the check for $464,736 that the Marines and sailors on Okinawa
donated to NMCRS. According to officials, this year’s effort
was the best active duty fund drive ever on island. (Official
U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Martin R. Harris)
(Released
