The next time we were approached to help, it ended up being three moms all with recruits in the same company.
The first mom was an unemployed medical assistant. The father of the recruit was in the Air Force and died when the son was 15 months old. No other family member planned to go to the recruit’s graduation and the mom desperately wanted to be there for him.
Then another mom approached us…she had been laid off from work and was still looking for employment so her funds were terribly limited. Due to her financial situation she was unable to travel to Salt Lake City for his official swear in and had been trying to figure a way out by any means to come up with the money for his graduation.
The third mom came to us asking for help with a similar story to the other two, and it was game on for the Fund team! Our travel coordinator worked long, tireless hours coordinating flights and car rentals, getting rooms for the three moms so they’d be together…two even agreed to share a room. It was a lot of work, but in the end, the reward for all was those three at their recruits’ graduation!
And then the thank you’s flowed in from the recipients…
“I have a HUGE thank you for ALL of you. Thanks to you ALL going to see my son graduate is NOT only a dream but NOW a reality. I am sitting here with tears of joy and from the bottom of my heart I feel so much gratitude. THANK YOU ALL SO VERY MUCH!!!”
“Today is the first day since graduation of Zulu 186 that I haven’t been attached to my new Coastie’s side. I wanted to thank everyone who made it possible for me to attend his graduation. Without the generous donations that this fund receives I would not have been able to attend. August 17th 2012 was absolutely a Dream Come True! I was able to watch my only son become a man! The Bed and Breakfast I stayed at, The Angle of the Sea was Beautiful!! Cape May is a Beautiful Town with Many Many wonderful people!! I would never been able to experience any of that without USCG Family Assistance Fund!! I just don’t feel my words can accurately express my gratitude. Thank you!”