Cape May Coast Guard to partner with Red Cross to give recruits home for the holidays

News Release

U.S. Coast Guard Bootcamp Contact: Coast Guard Training Center Cape May Public Affairs Office: (609) 898-6362 Bootcamp online newsroom

MEDIA ADVISORY: Coast Guard partners with Red Cross to give recruits home for the holidays

 

Editor’s Note:  Media interested in attending must RSVP with the TRACEN Cape May Public Affairs Officer by Tuesday, Nov. 22, by email ( timothy.p.tamargo@uscg.mil ) or calling 609-898-6362. Upon arriving at the base, be prepared to show government-issued photo identification, such as a driver's license or passport, and media credentials at the security checkpoint. Members of the media are requested to arrive at 8:30 a.m.

 

Who:     Coast Guard Recruits, Command Representatives and Operation Fireside Host Family Members

 

What:    Operation Fireside host families pick up recruits at Coast Guard Training Center Cape May. Interview and photo opportunities available with recruits, families, and command staff.

 

When:   Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2022

               9 a.m. to 10 a.m. or when last recruit departs.  

 

Where:  Coast Guard Training Center Cape May, 1 Munro Ave., Cape May, NJ 08204

 

Add'l:    Opportunities to interview families at their homes on Thanksgiving can be coordinated with the Red Cross by calling 609-206-4043 or emailing Diane Concannon at diane.concannon@redcross.org   

 

CAPE MAY, N.J.  -- U.S. Coast Guard Training Center Cape May and the American Red Cross will place more than 300 Coast Guard recruits with South Jersey families for Thanksgiving as part of Operation Fireside, resuming the in-home part of the program after suspension the last two years due to COVID.

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.

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 more than four decades ago. The Red Cross solicits and tracks volunteers and host families, while Training Center Cape May pairs each recruit with a family on Thanksgiving and Christmas.

The families and the recruits will meet at Training Center Cape May’s Flores Gymnasium before departing the training center. 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 the next day.

Training Center Cape May is the Coast Guard’s only enlisted basic training program, and more than 80 percent of the service’s workforce receives basic instruction here to become Coast Guardsmen. The recruits are trained in everything from firearms familiarization to basic water survival.

 

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