Shelters and organizations in South East Connecticut received much needed bed linens again this year thanks to members of the Long Island Sound Chapter of the CWOA and the graduating class of the Coast Guard Academy. The donated comforters and sheets will be used to help the homeless around the New London and New Haven areas.
“Each year these shelters provide help and support to needy people and families,” said CWO3 Craig Kerby, President of the Long Island Sound Chapter. “Our donations help to ensure that these shelters have linens to distribute to these people.”
Each May graduating cadets receive their diplomas, toss their hats in the air, and leave the campus for their assignments out in the fleet, When they leave, they no longer have use for the bedding they used in their dorm rooms. That’s where the LIS chapter has stepped in. For the third year in a row the chapter has collected these unwanted linens and redistributed them to local organizations.
“We started the collection drive around the first of the year, advertising that we would take the bedding when they leave, rather than them just throwing it away” said CWO4 (ret) Scott Epperson. “Some cadets drop off their linens early in the year, but on graduation day we literally get piles and piles of bedding.”
This year, Kerby, Epperson, Tina Epperson, and CWO3 Mike Bryant washed and packaged the bedding for distribution over a four-week period. In all more than 200 Comforters, 40 blankets, 350 sheets, 70 pillow-cases, and almost 100 mattress pads were processed and distributed.
“Although it's a lot of hard work getting the linens collected, sorted, washed, dried and folded, along with dedicating numerous hours of personal time,” said Kerby “it's well worth the effort when we deliver these linens to the shelters and see the sincere appreciation on the faces of both the workers and people who will be receiving the linens’
“Each year these shelters provide help and support to needy people and families,” said CWO3 Craig Kerby, President of the Long Island Sound Chapter. “Our donations help to ensure that these shelters have linens to distribute to these people.”
Each May graduating cadets receive their diplomas, toss their hats in the air, and leave the campus for their assignments out in the fleet, When they leave, they no longer have use for the bedding they used in their dorm rooms. That’s where the LIS chapter has stepped in. For the third year in a row the chapter has collected these unwanted linens and redistributed them to local organizations.
“We started the collection drive around the first of the year, advertising that we would take the bedding when they leave, rather than them just throwing it away” said CWO4 (ret) Scott Epperson. “Some cadets drop off their linens early in the year, but on graduation day we literally get piles and piles of bedding.”
This year, Kerby, Epperson, Tina Epperson, and CWO3 Mike Bryant washed and packaged the bedding for distribution over a four-week period. In all more than 200 Comforters, 40 blankets, 350 sheets, 70 pillow-cases, and almost 100 mattress pads were processed and distributed.
“Although it's a lot of hard work getting the linens collected, sorted, washed, dried and folded, along with dedicating numerous hours of personal time,” said Kerby “it's well worth the effort when we deliver these linens to the shelters and see the sincere appreciation on the faces of both the workers and people who will be receiving the linens’
