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Last year, a single Coast Guard member, LT Brian Bruns, embarked on a journey to run 100 miles in honor of Coast Guard members who died in the line of duty since September 11th, 2001. This year the race has turned into a global event. Led by LT Lucy Love, 90 individuals formed relay teams to tackle the Keys 100 this weekend, a 100-mile ultra-marathon that begins in Key Largo ends in Key West. Thanks to the hard work of volunteers, teams ranging from 25 to 300 people are running satellite races in Coast Guard cities around the world in conjunction with the Keys 100. These runners are racing to honor the Fallen Heroes of the Coast Guard.

Editor's Note: The following is a guest blog post by John Mixson, a board member of the Lower Alabama Lacrosse League. The league held "The Fallen Guardsmen Lacrosse Jamboree" on April 21, which raised funds for the Foundation's Family Disaster Relief Fund and The Fallen Heroes Scholarship Fund in honor of the four crewmembers of CG-6535, who were lost earlier this year. 

As the result of a successful Facebook campaign to get 5,000 "likes" for The Weather Channel's new hit show Coast Guard Alaska, the Coast Guard Foundation is proud to accept a gift of $5,000 from the network. The gift will be directed to a morale project in Alaska. Coast Guard Alaska tells the story of service personnel and their families and what life is like in the grueling frontier of Alaska. Season 2 of Coast Guard Alaska premieres this Wednesday, April 18 at 9 p.m. eastern. See a sneak peak here.

The U.S. Coast Guard commissioned a new, state-of-the-art cutter, the Bernard C. Webber, on Saturday in Miami, Florida. The Coast Guard Foundation sponsored a reception for the crew members and other dignitaries.

We are pleased to announce that we will be greeting the USCG Barque EAGLE at six of her stops on this summer's OpSail/Bicentennial commemoration of the War of 1812 tour. The cities and dates are listed below.

Coast Guard Foundation Vice President Patti Gross attended the commissioning of the USCGC Stratton in Alameda, California this past weekend. Patti has come to know the ship well, having attended its christening in 2010 in Pascagoula, Mississippi, as well as riding onboard the STRATTON for four days in December during its sea trials on the west coast.

Volunteers across the country have shown an outpouring of support for the families of the crew of CG-6535 by organizing multiple fundraising events in the wake of the tragedy that claimed the lives of four brave Coast Guard members. The Coast Guard Foundation is immensely grateful to these organizers for their support during this difficult time.

Following a helicopter crash that killed three Coast Guard members in 2010, Melissa Thorsen-Broshat, owner of the Highliner Coffee Company, has been selling mugs at her Sitka, AK coffee shop and collecting proceeds for the Coast Guard Foundation's Fallen Heroes Scholarship program.

The first of the Coast Guard's new fast-response cutters, the Bernard C. Webber, will be commissioned in Miami, Florida on April 14. The Coast Guard Foundation is looking forward to supporting the event and the crew of this ship.

The Coast Guard lost a decorated member of its community last month when LTJG Frank L. Spatuzzi passed away at the age of 93 in Clearwater, Florida.

Spatuzzi was awarded the Purple Heart after he was injured during a battle in the Pacific Theater in World War II. A Japanese kamakaze pilot crashed a plane into the ship that Spatuzzi was on, injuring Spatuzzi, leaving him with a lifelong limp.