Pensacola Chapter Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge
The Pensacola Chapter of Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge presented awards to the following Pensacola Citizens for their outstanding community involvement:
Adult Community – George Washington Honor Medal
Photos by RustyBuggy.com
Frank Emond – A Lifetime of Doing Good
Sarah Seelman and Jaque Taylor – Giving Back: Quilters Support Community and Honor Vets Through the Final Salute
Information Warfare Training Command, CDR Christopher Eng, USN and School District of Escambia County, Malcolm Thomas, Superintendent – Saturday Scholars
Youth Community – George Washington Honor Medal
Award accepted by her parents
Madeline Bookout – World War II Oral Histories
Tyler Carach – I DONUT need a reason to Thank a Cop
Jessica Hatton – McDonald House
Casey Scott – The Currie House
Educator – George Washington Honor Medal
Steve Tuley – Teaching through Drama
Public Communications – George Washington Honor Medal
The Appleyard Foundation, Dick Appleyard
The University of West Florida Historic Trust, Robert Overton, Exec. Dir.
The John Appleyard Storytelling Cottage
Jill Hubbs – They Were Our Fathers
Youth Essay – George Washington Honor Medal on Ribbon
Ethan Besemer, Dakota Fulton, Savannah Hush, Destiny Lewis James Todd, Alexander Wilson
Youth Essay – Certificate
Donald Reyes, Ricora Jones, Tierra Gooden, Caeley Farrior, William Kane,
Liberty Bell Award – Adult Community
Accepted by CDR Eric Sieb,USN
Petty Officer First Class David D. Hernandez, USN
Navy Participation in Community Events
Liberty Bell Award – Special Events
Accepted by the Honorable Lacey Collier
The Northern District of Florida U.S. District Court
Naturalization
Lifetime Achievement- American Eagle on Stand
Pam Schwartz
“Life is a gift which is better when shared.”
Rusty Buggy Enterprises provided documentary coverage of this event and has created a DVD capturing the event. Order your copy to relive the event over and over.
This month, women of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are celebrating the 175th anniversary of the, the Relief Society, the oldest and largest women’s organization in the world. Rather than a church-wide “event,” Sister Linda K. Burton, Relief Society general president, encouraged the Relief Society’s more than 7 million members to remember the milestone during meetings in their local congregations.
Women in Pensacola’s congregation of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints celebrated the event by “Baking the World a Better Place.” 16 ladies got together with sugar, flour, shortening, apples and spices to make apple pies. In today’s world, it is often easier and certainly quicker to stop by the local grocery store to make a selection. Making pies from scratch is a project that requires talent, a desire to serve, and a lot of patience.
Event leader, Vicky Garrett, arranged for the ingredients, some of which came from members’ “food storage”, mixing bowls, measuring tools, rolling pins, pie pans and apple peelers. “The plan was to make service pies,” she said. Members and guests worked together to mix the pastry ingredients and roll out the dough. “We had to be careful not to over work the flour and shortening mixture to assure a tender crust.”
Once the pastry was placed in the pans, other women filled the shell with apples, flour, sugar and cinnamon. The final group applied the top layer of pastry, cutting special shapes for decorating, applying an egg wash, and then monitoring the baking time.
Service to Others
While the pies baked, members had a discussion of the importance of serving in families, communities and the world. The Relief society purposes document states “Relief Society helps prepare women for the blessings of eternal life as they increase faith in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and His Atonement; strengthen individuals, families, and homes through ordinances and covenants; and work in unity to help those in need.”
The last part of the event was a drawing for the pies. The winners were challenged to find someone who should receive the pies. Recipients included a widow, a lady who had surgery, and a family packing to leave the area.
A ukulele group member, who is a single woman and lives alone, received one of the pies. She shared it when the group went to lunch together following a practice session. She asked the waitress for a to-go box for the one remaining piece. Then she gave the waitress the last slice of the pie.
Another pie was delivered to two brothers who care for their 96 year old mom. “It was yummy,” they said.
The Pensacola, Florida Relief Society sisters are baking the world a better place and brightening the lives of others, one pie at a time.
Women from the Pensacola Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are proud to be a part of making feminine hygiene kits for women and girls in need through www.DaysForGirls.org.
Young women and girls in developing countries may not have access to sanitary feminine hygiene products to use during their monthly menstrual periods. What if not having sanitary supplies meant missing days from school or days of isolation? Many girls have to make do with leaves, mattress stuffing, newspaper, corn husks or whatever else they can find, but still miss up to two months of education and opportunities every school year. Over time, this missed education perpetuates poverty in their lives.
Be an Instrument for Change in the World
Women of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Pensacola, Florida, accepted the challenge to be an instrument for social change for women all over the world. When they learned that hygiene items they have used for years were not available in other places, they selected a service project to create reuseable sanitary feminine hygiene kits working with the Days for Girls, an organization set up to organize volunteer seamstresses.
Sewers created the three basic parts in the hygiene kits from patterns developed by this international organization. The parts include flannel inserts to absorb menstrual flow. These liners are made from flannel serged around the edges to prevent fraying and include an additional center strip for extra absorbancy. These are placed into shields which snap through the legs of under panties.
photo by: Billie Nicholson
Shields are made from colorful 100% cotton fabric and contain a waterproof liner stitched inside. They have end pockets to hold the liners in place. Darker colors are preferred because they camouflage blood stains. When they are not in use, they can all be stored in drawstring fabric bags.
photo by: Robert Nicholson
Making Feminine Hygiene Kits
The first evening, thirty ladies got together from four different church congregations. Enthusiasm for the project spread throughout the area. During the summer and fall, work groups met monthly at five locations across the Florida Panhandle. As the project continued, unfinished items moved from work group to work group. The project included school age girls to grandmothers . Even non-sewers could help by cutting patterns, ironing and turning parts inside out was .
Photo by: Billie NIcholson
Work sessions were scheduled and announced on social media as well as the volunteer service website, JustServe.org. This free website allows organizations to post upcoming projects and the number of volunteers needed. It provides a place for workers to sign up and communicate with the organization as well as collects metrics on how many volunteer hours were donated.
Completed Feminine Hygiene Kits
Completed kits include the three sewn parts as well as panties, soap, Ziplock bags for storing and washing soiled items. The kits also include health and hygiene information.
How did the Pensacola group do? At last count, the group had completed:
749 flannel liners
351 shields and
294 drawstring bags.
What kind of influence do these kits have? They help girls stay in school, strengthen confidence and support healthy communities.
What difference do they make? After distribution, school absences dropped from 25% to 3% in Uganda. In Kenya they dropped from 36% to 8%. In general, women menstruate 60 days or 2 months a year. Days for Girls feminine hygiene kits are designed to last 2-4 years. Imagine earning back 240 days of opportunity.
Since their establishment, Days for Girls has developed a global network of over 780 chapters and teams, companies, governments, and non-government organizations in over 100 countries.
In addition to organizing volunteer seamstresses around the world, currently, they are also running micro-enterprises for women’s groups in under developed countries to make these kits and provide for women in their communities.
They are working to help girls gain access to quality sustainable feminine hygiene, vital health knowledge, and income generation opportunities.
In conclusion, working on this project, women across the Florida Panhandle have come together to serve women in other parts of the world. They remember, “when you are in service to your fellow man, you are in the service of your God.”
The Fourth Annual Rotary Tree of Remembrance was on display at Cordova Mall in Pensacola from Sunday December 4 through Tuesday, December 27, 2016. Pensacola Cordova Rotary, Rotary E-Club of the Southeast USA & Caribbean, sponsored the Rotary Tree of Remembrance at Cordova Mall, located at 5100 N. 9th Avenue in Pensacola, FL. Local Combined Rotary Clubs of Greater Pensacola members served as volunteers during shopping hours at the mall to share the purpose of the tree.
The opening ceremony, held outside Dillard’s entrance at 3:00 PM on Sunday, December 4th, included entertainment by the Tate High School Choral Group, under the direction of Cynthia Domulot.
Photo by: RustyBuggy.com
An observance of the 75th anniversary of Pearl Harbor Day, the Japanese attack that resulted in the US entering World War II was included. Lt. Col. Cass Phillips, USN (ret.) represented our local Pearl Harbor survivors.
“I am really proud to be in this place with our local Pearl Harbor survivor, Cass Phillips,” said Mayor Ashton Hayward. LCdr Phillips was among many who filled out ribbons of remembrance for the tree.
photo by: RustyBuggy.comPhoto by: RustyBuggy.com
Tree of Remembrance Touches Hearts
Holiday shoppers’ hearts were touched as they stopped to remember loved ones and place gold ribbons on the tree. “This is an opportunity to extend the spirit of holiday giving by making a contribution to local youth organizations,” said Dave Reed, Pensacola North Rotary member. This year’s contributions totaled $11,023.00. Checks were presented to recipients at the Januart 5th meeting of the Cordova Rotary.
Photo by: RustyBuggy.com
Donation Beneficiaries
Photo by: RustyBuggy.com
Donation beneficiaries include Children’s Hospital at Sacred Heart, Gulf Coast Kid’s House, Simon Youth Foundation, Rotary’s Camp Florida, Covenant Hospice and Reading is Fundamental Pensacola.
Rotary participants from:
Pensacola Cordova
E-Club of Southeast USA & Carribbean
Cantonment
Five Flags
Gulf Breeze
Milton
Pace
Pensacola North
Pensacola
Perdido Key
Seville
SubWest
spent many hours at the tree assisting shoppers as they placed ribbons on the tree. Over a 1,000 ribbons were placed on this year’s tree.
Photo by: Robin Foley
Students from Interact Pace High School, Interact Gulf Breeze High School
Rotaract from University of West Florida & Pensacola Rotaract also volunteered to work at the tree.
A special thanks to volunteers from Naval Air Station Technical Training Command (NATTC) Pensacola, who manned the tree during it’s first week.
After the holidays, Scouts will retire the ribbons placed on the Tree of Remembrance at the Boy Scouts’ annual U.S. Flag Retirement Ceremony. This service will be scheduled for later in the year.
Twenty-seven young men and women, missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, spent the day working on community service projects as they participated in a global initiative, Light the World. This project focuses on celebrating and sharing the light of Jesus Christ, the “Light of the World” (John 8:12) throughout the month of December.
Building Homes
One group of 10 traveled from Pensacola to Century, Florida to work with Habitat for Humanity building a home where recent tornadoes left many homeless. Families are still struggling more than nine months after a storm ripped through Century. Working together with BRACE, Escambia County, World Renew, and the Escambia Housing Finance Authority, Pensacola Habitat will build sixteen to twenty new homes. Volunteers worked to frame out a new home.
Home Improvement Store
Home building is only one of the many facets of Pensacola Habitat for Humanity. Habitat for Humanity. ReStores are nonprofit home improvement stores and donation centers. They sell new and gently used furniture, home accessories, building materials, and appliances to the public at a fraction of the retail price. Local Habitat for Humanity affiliates own and operate Restore facilities. Proceeds are used to build homes, community, and hope locally and around the world. 17 missionaries went to the Pensacola ReStore to help with projects there. They repaired items, built some things, loaded, unloaded cars, organized, cleaned the warehouse and helped customers. The manager expressed gratitude for the group’s efforts, “If everyone just helped out a little more like this, the world would be a better place.”
Volunteers at Food Bank
That was all done before lunch! After lunch, all 27 missionaries and two senior missionaries (an older couple) met at Manna Food Pantry. There they worked sorting food, cleaning and organizing recent food drive contributions.
Christ is the Light of the World
“It’s the Christmas season,” said David A. Bednar, a member of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints leadership. “We have lights — all kinds of lights on our houses, on our trees, on our dining tables. So if we link those wonderful traditions with the source of truth, even Christ as the source of light, it just made great sense to all of us that we can share Christ’s message by doing simple acts of service to light the world.”
These kinds of projects are never finished. Volunteers are always needed especially during the holiday season. The initiative continues for the entire month. Standby for additional reports, this was just the first day! If you need ideas on how to serve others, visit http://www.JustServe.org.
The Fourth Annual Rotary Tree of Remembrance will be on display at Cordova Mall in Pensacola from Sunday December 4 through Tuesday, December 27, 2016. The opening ceremony, to be held outside Dillard’s entrance at 3:00 PM on Sunday, December 4th, is open to the public.
Pensacola Cordova Rotary, Rotary E-Club of the Southeast USA & Caribbean, and Combined Rotary Clubs of Greater Pensacola are sponsoring a Rotary Tree of Remembrance at Cordova Mall, located at 5100 N. 9th Avenue in Pensacola, FL. Donation beneficiaries include Children’s Hospital at Sacred Heart, Gulf Coast Kid’s House, Simon Youth Foundation, Rotary’s Camp Florida, Covenant Hospice and Reading is Fundamental Pensacola.
The Rotary Tree of Remembrance is a Rotary International community-service project provided by the Rotary Club of Pensacola-Cordova, the Rotary E-Club of South East USA and the Caribbean, and the Combined Rotary Clubs of Pensacola. Holiday shoppers are touched as they remember a loved one with a gold ribbon placed on the Tree.
photo by: Rusty Buggy Enterprises
Remember Loved Ones
“This is a great opportunity for families and friends to remember loved ones,” said Dave Reed, Rotary North member, “and extend the spirit of giving by making a contribution to these youth organizations.” Reed plans to be among the Rotary club members, Rotaract and Interact club members as well as charity representatives, who will be volunteering their time to greet the public and receive donations.
Photo by: Rusty Buggy Enterprises
The December 4 Opening Ceremony will include an observance of the 75th anniversary of Pearl Harbor Day . Several Pearl Harbor survivors living in the Pensacola area are expecting to attend. The Tate High School Choral Group, under the direction of Cynthia Domulo, will provide musical entertainment. After the holidays, Scouts will retire the ribbons placed on the Tree of Remembrance at the Boy Scouts’ annual U.S. Flag Retirement Ceremony.
For additional Information Contact: Carl Backman, 850 602-1825
Pearl Harbor and Iwo Jima Survivor, Sgt. Maj. William (Bill) Braddock, USMC (RET.) celebrates 94th birthday with family and friends. In true Louisiana fashion, his son Dale had the fish, shrimp, fries and hush puppies piled high in addition to a giant pot of gumbo simmering on a back burner.
Some members of the Pearl Harbor Initiative, which was responsible for co-ordinating the 2011 honor flight for six Pearl Harbor Survivors to return to Pearl in celebration of the 70th commemoration of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, joined Bill’s children and grand children as they honored their “hero Dad.” Honor flight trip co-organizer, Lt Col Bill Phillips and his wife, Kathy, Rick Carraway, wife, Theresa and daughter, Samantha, and photographer/authors Robert and Billie Nicholson listened with smiles as Bill’s daughter, Carole, shared stories about how their dad had taught his kids how to swim. They learned so well, all five served as life guards at Corey Station. Three of his children still live nearby and the others are just a phone call away.
Sgt. Maj. Braddock shared details of his preparations for this year’s hunting season. His hunting club has already been out cleaning and repairing tree stands and setting up feeding stations.
Happy 94th Birthday to you!
When it was time for cake, Sgt. Maj. puffed up his chest and blew out the candles, including those hard to extinguish sparklers.
What’s next for the Pearl Harbor Survivors? Col. Phillips revealed some of the plans for a Dec. 7th trip to the World War II Museum in New Orleans. The three remaining Survivors will be part of a remembrance presentation and get special behind the scenes tours. When asked about the trip, Sgt. Maj. Braddock smiled and said, “We’ll be taking things one day at a time.”
Members of Hendersonville’s Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints celebrated its annual Pioneer Day. The celebration commemorates the 1,000 mile trek that many church members made across the American continent during the late 1800’s. The day began with a wide array of picnic foods, desserts and lemonade. The “OH’s” echoed throughout the shelter when a pickup truck arrived with two roasted pigs laid out for good ‘pickins’!
The celebration took on a more somber and nostalgic flavor when the entire group sang “Come, Come Ye Saints” a traditional song played and sung by the pioneers when crossing the plains in 1848 to escape religious persecution on their trek to Salt Lake City, Utah to establish Zion. The choir then sang ‘Pioneer Lullaby’ featuring the soulful sounds of piano and violin streaming throughout the park. It is a sad, haunting song of so many pioneers who had to bury their small children crossing the plains.
Hendersonville, NC has its own group of Pioneers. The Hendersonville LDS 2nd Branch congregation has nearly 100 immigrant members from the Micronesian Islands of the western Pacific. Micronesia is a region that includes 2100 islands, some of which are US Territories. The region has no common written language, just many spoken dialects. Communicating even among themselves can be a challenge. They have found a common focus, however, in their love for Our Savior, Jesus Christ.
“We the People”
On a more upbeat and patriotic note, all of the over 200 attendees (featuring many of our Micronesian members) sang in unison “We the People”. Composed by Sandy Wilbur for elementary school children, this song depicts the Preamble of our Constitution of the United States of America. Music Director, Darlene Beasley, hand-painted the “We the People” flag banner. This presentation truly represented the multi-culturism of our wonderful country. The blending of the many melodious voices and smiling faces certainly portrayed the unity and freedom we have in the United States and why we can be called ‘united’ as one, under God.
Modern Day Pioneers
There are no words to express the spirit at this event, especially when so many of the Micronesian families, in their native dress, performed their native dances to beautiful island music. So many wore turquoise and orange tee shirts labeled “LDS Pioneer – Micronesia” and then the rains came…blessings from heaven. They continued to dance as the downpour drenched them all…and they still smiled and danced…and we all cheered with joy and felt our hearts burst with love and appreciation for the unity we felt for our ‘modern day Pioneers’!
Story by Carolyn Meinhardt, 828-458-1504
For additional Information contact: Ben Beasley, Branch President (828) 698-1223
Girls in developing countries around the world suffer indignities, infection and even exploitation during the menstrual flow times of their life. Without sanitary supplies contained in feminine hygiene kits, girls and young women miss days from school and have their ability to work impacted. Without pads, they may have to use rags, mattress stuffing, banana leaves, feathers, and cow dung to manage their menstruation.
Often girls miss several days of school each month impacting their education and perpetuating poverty in their lives. In Uganda, where the feminine hygiene kits have been introduced, the school absenteeism has dropped from 36% to 8% in Uganda. Schools in Kenya have reported a change from 25% to 3% .
Days for Girls International is a grassroots 501(c)3 non-profit. Women, and girls discover their potential and self-value, are equal participants and agents of social change. They have opportunities to thrive, grow and contribute to their community’s betterment while ensuring quality sustainable feminine hygiene. Their mission is to create a more dignified, free and educated world through access to lasting feminine hygiene solutions and health awareness.
The Pensacola congregation, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ladies service organization President, Billie Nicholson, said, “Julia Gibson, from Gulf Breeze, FL introduced this program during a church women’s group meeting. She explained how women in developing countries have unhealthy feminine hygiene. Many of us were aghast. We had no idea that items we have used each month for years were not available other places.”
Then she told of the international project, Days for Girls, created to organize volunteers to sew feminine hygiene kits. Julia described how excited young ladies are when they receive the kits. They are also taught ways to care for the reusable kits so they will last for several years. Following our meeting, many women wanted to know how to be a part of this sewing project. (Picture chickens chasing June bugs.)
“The excitement was contagious,” Nicholson said.
Work Events Planned
One of our members, Wendi Mihalik, contacted representatives of Days for Girls to get details on how to get started. She learned what types of fabric were needed and how to order some hard-to-get supplies. Within a few days, we scheduled a work event. We posted the project on the community service website, www.JustServe.org and on social media pages that were shared over and over. The night of our event, we had thirty women from four different Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Wards show up. Women and young girls cut patterns and fabric. They serged, ironed, and sewed items to create components of the feminine hygiene kits.
Days for Girls, Int’l. has designed reusable pads, shields and drawstring bags, which can be sewn by volunteers. They are part of kits that also contain panties, soap and plastic bags for washing them. The kits also include health and hygiene information. Workers inspect each item for quality of construction.
Work Events Go Viral
Needless to say, we didn’t finish that first night. We scheduled a second event for the following Saturday. That allowed us time to complete 34 shields and many reusable pads. Some women took drawstring bag sets home to continue working on their own. It didn’t stop there. The desire to work on this project has spread to five more church wards in our Stake (regional organization). Navarre, Fl Ward has a meeting planned Thursday July 21 and Milton Ward is having a meeting on August 25.
Feminine Hygiene Kits Final Destination
As we work together, we take unfinished items from one group to the next. Some of the kits are already on their way to a Days for Girls Uganda chapter in Orem, Utah.
The Pensacola stake sisters finished the following items to send—
59 bags
41 shields
345 liners
We will send more completed kits in November. Working on this project, women across the Florida Panhandle have come together to serve women in other parts of the world.
US Navy veteran, George B. Dodge, Sr., is the recent recipient of the Pensacola Chapter of the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge national award, “The George Washington Honor Medal,” for his extensive work in building the Pensacola Veterans Day Parade to the level at which it was recognized by the Veterans Administration in Washington, D.C. as a “Regional Veterans Day Site.” He built the Pensacola Veterans Day Parade from a paltry 128 people in 2010 to nearly 3,000 participants in 2013.
Dodge worked for three years as a Veteran’s Advocate with the Gulf Coast Veterans Advocacy Council. This Freedom Foundation Honor also recognizes his many efforts in the Escambia County community in park restoration, significant blood donations to One Blood of Florida, and his leadership as President of the AHEPA Pensacola Charitable Foundation, Inc. which awards scholarships to worthy students seeking to attend college or who are attending college. Under his leadership as President of AHEPA, Daphne Chapter 296, he brought a very successful National Convention to Pensacola for the first time in over a half century.
Dodge worked with Boy Scouts of America, Troop 432, for over twenty years. He was assistant scout leader helping with badges and camp outs. He was awarded the Marion C. Leach Conservation Award. He is also a member of the Order of the Arrow.
His public service works through his own 501 (c) 3 as founder and President of “First Nations Intertribal Association, Inc.” took Dodge to many of the US Native American reservations as well as Guatemala and Honduras. While there, Dodge delivered clothing, appliances, medical and school supplies to those in need. He was the only one to bring hurricane relief to the Chitamacha Chocktaw people of Louisiana following devastating hurricanes in 2005 and 2006. He also assisted in preparations for Hurricane Ivan in Escambia County, FL in 2004. Following that devastation he chain-sawed many dangerous trees and tree limbs away from homes and streets and distributed food and water to those in need. He was recognized by Florida’s governor, Charlie Crist, with the “Governor’s Points of Light” Award in 2008.
George B. Dodge, Sr. joined the Greek Fraternal organization “American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association (AHEPA)” in 2008 and served as President for three years and Vice President for one year. He worked with Jodie Butler who founded the “Meals of Honor” program, which feeds homeless veterans, to make it a part of the Greek Fraternity “AHEPA” in 2013. During his tenure with AHEPA Dodge earned the District One Chapter President of the Year Award, the District One Distinguished Service Award, the Chapter 296 Community Service Award, the Service to Chapter Award, the Leadership in Church Award, and the Lifetime Marital Devotion Award. He is also a founding member and fifth year President of the “AHEPA Pensacola Charitable Foundation, Inc.”
Dodge is also an active member of the prestigious “Thunderbird Honor Guard” based in Fort Walton Beach, FL. This Native American Honor Guard presents and retires “Colors” at special public events.
Dodge entered the University of West Florida in 2003 to earn his third Masters Degree. During his tenure he wrote, promoted, directed and performed in his first (and very successful) play “Native American Heritage Theater,” organized a two day “Native American Festival” which was the largest festival of it’s kind ever accomplished on the University of West Florida Campus, and established the university recognized student organization, “First Nations Intertribal Student Organization of UWF.”
In 2004, he organized the first of many Mission Trips to Native American Reservations. The first of these trips was to the Rosebud Lakota Sioux Reservation in South Dakota. Dodge earned the “University Of West Florida Presidents Leadership in Diversity Award” upon graduation with an MA degree. It is worthy of note that there is only one of these honors presented per year. Also the festival he created at UWF continues to be part of the annual “Festival On The Green” tradition at this University. He also has aided Mayan Indian People of Guatemala with school supplies and delivered clothing to the poor of Honduras. A book written by Robert and Billie Nicholson, The Cheyenne Sisters Mission, details one of his trips.
Dodge is currently the “Veteran’s Service Officer,” the “Veteran’s Day Parade Director,” and the director of the “Corpsman Unit” with the Corporal J.R. Spears Detachment #066 of the Marine Corps League of Pensacola, Florida, beginning 2015.
