Photo By Seaman Imani Daniels | 082318-N-UA653-079 Donated backpacks filled with school supplies by the NMCP’s SCPOA.... read more read more
As the new school year quickly approaches, members of Navy Medical Center Portsmouth’s (NMCP) Second Class Petty Officer Association (SCPOA) came together to fill backpacks with school supplies, Aug. 23.
Although parents and children alike are excited for the new school year to begin, some parents may experience sticker shock when they see all of the school supplies that are required.
The backpacks are for students in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade and are scheduled to be delivered to the student’s parents, notably junior Sailors on a fixed budget, prior to the first day of school. “The backpacks are going to go to staff members with kids who might just need a little extra boost to get all the supplies they need,” said Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Nneka Winn.
Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Alexandre Bassene, one of the SCPOA’s organizers for the collection, said that “paying it forward” was a focal point for the SCPOA’s decision to take on the collection project.
“Not everyone has the means to get everything they need all the time,” Bassene said. “Somewhere at some point, somebody did something for me when I was in need so now I want to pass that along to someone else.”
The initiative received the seal of approval from NMCP’s command master chief. "Projects like these are vital to show how our Sailors go above and beyond for our Navy family as a whole,” said Master Chief Petty Officer Beth Nilson. “And continue to find ways to give back to our internal community and supports the idea that we take care of our own."
Hospital Corpsman 1st Class Rebecca Young, NMCP SCPOA’s mentor, said that the group was looking for a meaningful project that would make a positive impact on the command.
“We talked about the idea, they ran with it, and here we are,” Young said while pointing to all of the colorful supply items that were in the room where the group was filling the backpacks. “They’ve been rock stars organizing this collection, and the goal is for them to do this annually.”
The association used decorated cardboard boxes placed in the various clinics throughout the medical center to collect donations, and the supplies collected included: 50 packs of colored pencils, 30 glue bottles, 60 packs of notebook paper, 45 packs of pens, eight binders and 22 backpacks.
“We’re actually in need of at least six more backpacks because we collected so many extra supplies,” Winn said. SCPOA’s initial goal was to fill 10 backpacks, but found that they had enough to fill up to 22 backpacks with some leftover supplies.
“Education is so important to a child,” added Winn. “We didn’t want a kid to fall through the cracks just because they don’t have all the supplies they need to succeed.”
| Date Taken: | 08.23.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 08.29.2018 10:23 |
| Story ID: | 290731 |
| Location: | PORTSMOUTH, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 104 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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