News

The Coast Guard Foundation is mourning the loss of one of our long-time Trustees, Captain Henry Keene, Jr., USCG (Ret.), who passed away at his Ketchikan, Alaska home Oct. 5. 

Captain Keene was a fixture at Foundation board meetings and awards dinners, and a proud advocate of his adopted home state of Alaska. Captain Keene joined the board in 1994 and served with distinction until his death.

The Coast Guard Foundation Board of Trustees recently added five new members to its ranks. Their three-year term of service began on January 1, 2012. We welcome them to the Coast Guard Foundation!

At the annual meeting on October 13, the Foundation's Board of Trustees voted to confer emeritus status to three members who have faithfully served the organization over a combined 37 years. The staff and board thank these individuals for their tireless support of the Foundation, and wish them well in their future endeavors.

The Foundation honored the heroic efforts of two Coast Guard crews — one helicopter crew and one fast boat crew — at our 31st annual national awards dinner in New York last Thursday. The evening honored the bravery and courage of the guardians who enforce maritime law, protect our homeland, and preserve the environment.

The Coast Guard Foundation is pleased to announce a matching gift appeal to benefit our Shipmate Fund. A very generous friend of ours, who has asked to remain anonymous, has agreed to match every gift made to our Shipmate Fund by October 31, 2011 – dollar for dollar – up to $20,000.

Thanks to several generous corporate donors, the U.S. Coast Guard Academy was able to bolster its Leadership and Ethics programs, which helped provide invaluable instruction to cadets that otherwise, would not be possible.

In 2008, BAE Systems pledged to give $250,000 to the Academy over four years for leadership and ethics programs. Since 2009, SAIC has given the Academy $150,000 for similar programming at the Academy. Last year, Lockheed Martin Corporation donated $25,000 to the fund for future projects.

The Coast Guard Foundation is proud to announce a new education grant program designed specifically to help spouses of enlisted personnel further their education. The Coast Guard Foundation Spouse Education Grant program covers expenses like books, school fees, transportation and child care costs.

The Coast Guard Foundation proudly celebrated the achievements of Coast Guard personnel serving in the Pacific Area on Wednesday, August 3. The 26th annual awards dinner held in San Diego, California featured keynote addresses from Commandant of the Coast Guard, Admiral Robert J. Papp, and the commander of the Pacific Area, Vice Admiral Manson Brown.

The Coast Guard Foundation held it's first-ever District One Awards Dinner on September 15 at the John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse in Boston, Mass. The awards dinner honored a boat crew from Coast Guard Station Chatham for their heroic pre-dawn rescue of 11 people from a burning yacht off the shore of Cape Cod last year.

In an effort to directly connect with the sail racing community, the Coast Guard Foundation will hold its first annual distance sailboat race, the Coast Guard Foundation Cup, on May 14 in Annapolis, Maryland. Established to raise funds for Foundation programs for enlisted Coast Guard members, provide financial support for college to families of Coast Guard members lost in the line of duty, and offer relief for Coast Guard families who have lost possessions in natural disasters, the first annual Coast Guard Foundation Cup will be hosted by the Annapolis Yacht Club.