Sarasota-Manatee Responds to Call of President Branch to Get Involved on College Campuses
In the November issue of Seapower, President Branch, of the Navy League of the United States encouraged Councils to get involved on college campuses to let our young adults be more aware of the Navy League and its citizens in support of America’s sea services. In response to this call-to-action and to add to our February Merchant Marine theme at our local Council, we signed up to sponsor a date at the “KP Cookie Café” held at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy . Our task was to bake 200 dozen cookies and send them to the Academy for their special Thursday morale booster to let the Midshipmen know we are out here and appreciate their service. This is the only Academy where Midshipmen have actively served while in school in all our wars since WWI. Today, Kings Point Midshipmen are supporting the war in Afghanistan, our military around the globe, and our economy on Merchant vessels before they even graduate. This is an extraordinary group of young people who spend a year at sea on a variety of both military and merchant vessels including Coast Guard cutters that resupply the polar stations. 200 dozen seemed like an astronomical amount of cookies. About 800 Midshipmen were expected to attend the event so we forged ahead!
To get started, we called on all hands in our council to get out their favorite cookie recipe and bake morale support. The response was overwhelming and fun. On cookie turn-in day we had a drop-off station in town and the cookies began to arrive. By 4 pm we had 233 dozen beautiful cookies carefully packed in 6 large boxes bound for Kings Point. On the day of the event we received several calls from Midshipmen and volunteers at the Academy inquiring about the Navy League of the United States. With our “Navy” League name they were so pleased to hear that the Navy League serves ALL our sea services and not only the Navy.
The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy is as misunderstood as the U.S. Merchant Marine. Of all our Federal Service Academies, none is more perfectly matched to the Navy League than Kings Point because it is the only Academy where we produce officers who go into ALL the sea services; the Navy, the Coast Guard, the Marine Corps, and The Merchant Marine. Kings Point Midshipmen have options upon graduation and can choose to go Navy, Navy Air, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, Army, Air Force, National Guard, NOAA, or they can select from hundreds of sea and shore-side positions related to the U.S. Merchant Marine. At graduation, students wear the uniform of the service they have selected and the Academy swears students into their respective branches of the service. It is quite fascinating.
The event was a huge success and we accomplished all our goals.
Thank you to our “Sweet Cookies” who helped bake morale support:
Diana and Forrest Pontenberg, Larry Balok, Rose Schnoerr, Marla and Anthony Vignocchi, Darlene and Craig Harvey, Barbara and Marty Donner, and Sally and Roger Betts.
