CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. -- Senior Marine Corps and Navy leadership aboard Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, N.C., sat down together, Thursday, March 1, 2012, to donate money to the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society.
Those included were the commanding generals of II Marine Expeditionary Force, 2nd Marine Division and II Marine Logistics Group, as well as various units’ commanding officers, command master chiefs and sergeants major.
The purpose of senior leadership coming together to donate was to inspire their Marines and sailors to give back to the organization that provides interest free loans to servicemembers in the Naval services aboard Camp Lejeune, as well as other services such as financial management classes, explained Maj. Marty Messer, who assisted in coordinating the event and is the assistant strategic mobility officer with 2nd MLG.
The Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society, which was started in 1904 by a group of 19 volunteers as a way to help the indigent mothers and widows of Navy and Marine Corps personnel, works to provide, in partnership with the Navy and Marine Corps, educational, financial and other assistance to members of the Naval Services, active duty or retired, their eligible family members, or survivors, when in need, and to receive and manage funds to administer these programs, said Gini Schopfel, the director of Camp Lejeune’s NMCRS.
With no government funding given to the organization, they run solely on the generous donations given to them and throughout the month of March they are accepting donations.
“In 2011, of the 42,000 active duty stationed at Camp Lejeune only 4,800 donated during the active duty fund drive,” explained Schopfel. “The goal of this year’s campaign is not only to exceed the 217,000 dollars raised in 2011 but to educate all Marines and sailors and to encourage more individuals to donate when they are aware of the good works of the society right here at Camp Lejeune where over 7,400 clients received in excess of 2,732,000 dollars in direct financial assistance in the form of interest-free loans and outright grants.”
For more information on donating to this year’s campaign, contact Steven Rhoades at steven.rhoades@usmc.mil.