CAPE MAY, N.J. —
The Coast Guard and American Red Cross will place more than 200 Coast Guard recruits with approximately 80 South Jersey families for Christmas as part of Operation Fireside Tuesday at 11:45 a.m.
Coast Guard Training Center Cape May has approximately 200 recruits in training from more than 39 states, U.S. territories and countries. Operation Fireside has placed recruits with South Jersey families during the holiday season since 1981. It allows recruits to celebrate the holiday with a host family while they’re separated from their loved ones during the rigorous basic training program.
“Our new Coast Guardsmen will be conducting dangerous frontline Coast Guard missions in the U.S. and abroad within days of graduation, and we make them Coast Guardsmen by pushing them to new levels of physical, mental and emotional toughness,” said Capt. Bill Kelly, the commanding officer of Training Center Cape May. “The volunteers of Operation Fireside make them feel at home, which is probably one of the greatest gifts for a service member separated from their family during the Holiday season.”
Operation Fireside has been coordinated annually by the American Red Cross Southern Shore Chapter in Cape May Court House, N.J., since the program started three decades ago. The Red Cross solicits and tracks volunteers and host families, while Training Center Cape May pairs each recruit with a family Christmas Day.
The families and the recruits will meet at Training Center Cape May’s Guardian Chapel, and the recruits will be with the families until 8 p.m. While the recruits are off base, they will be allowed to eat as much as they want, call home, and relax before beginning training again that same day.
“We’re proud to say supporting military members is just one of our many Red Cross missions, and the families who host these men and women are also honored to have them in their homes,” said Donna Croskey, the Operation Fireside coordinator for the Red Cross. “Even after the Holidays, many of the host families attend the recruits’ graduation ceremony and stay in touch long after boot camp.”
Training Center Cape May is the Coast Guard’s only enlisted basic training program, and more than 83 percent of the Service’s workforce receive basic instruction here to become Coast Guardsmen. The recruits are trained in everything from fire arms familiarization to basic water survival.
Top Stories
Coast Guard recruits get a home for the Holidays
- Top Stories
-
-
Texas deputy killed in wreck, suspect detained
An off-duty Harris County sheriff's deputy has been killed in a traffic accident that's led to another driver charged with intoxication manslaughter.
-
Tornadoes slam Plains, Midwest; 1 dead in Okla.
When Lindsay Carter heard on the radio that a violent storm was approaching her rural Oklahoma neighborhood, she gathered her belongings and fled.
-
Activists say 28 Hezbollah members killed in Syria
Fierce street fighting in a Syrian town near the Lebanese border has killed at least 28 elite members of Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group, activists said Monday, as Syrian government forces pushed deeper into the strategic, opposition-held town.
-
Big 4 cellphone carriers unite on anti-texting ads
The country's four biggest cellphone companies are set to launch their first joint advertising campaign against texting while driving, uniting behind AT&T's "It Can Wait" slogan to blanket TV and radio this summer.
-
Details of Jolie's breast treatment revealed
Angelina Jolie's mother had breast cancer and died of ovarian cancer, and her maternal grandmother also had ovarian cancer — strong evidence of an inherited, genetic risk that led the actress to have both of her healthy breasts removed to try to avoid the same fate, her doctor said Wednesday.
-
Jolie admired for bravery in mastectomy revelation
"I hope that other women can benefit from my experience," Angelina Jolie wrote in a powerful op-ed article Tuesday, explaining her decision to go public with having her breasts removed to avoid cancer.
-
2013 deficit estimate lowered to $642 billion
The budget deficit for the current year is projected to come in well below what was estimated just a few months ago, a development that could further curb the already slowing momentum for a budget pact this year.
-
Bed Sharing Safely: Not All Co-Sleeping is Created Equal
Breastfeeding Significantly Reduces SIDS Risk
-
Security fence erected where Ohio women held
An imposing, 10-foot privacy fence has been erected around the home of a Cleveland rape and kidnapping suspect charged with holding three women captive for about a decade.
-
Police vow to solve shootings of 19 in New Orleans
Video released early Monday by New Orleans police shows a possible suspect in the Mother's Day gunfire that wounded 19 people during a neighborhood parade.
- More Top Stories Headlines
-
Texas deputy killed in wreck, suspect detained
