NAVAL AIR FACILITY MISAWA, Japan - Sailors forward deployed to Naval Air Facility Misawa and its tenant commands completed their annual Combined Federal Campaign-Overseas fund drive, Dec. 6, 2013.
Together, Navy Misawa sailors contributed more than $63,000 through individual donations and fundraising events, which was a $16,000 increase over last year’s drive.
"There are more than 2,500 charitable organizations that benefit from the contributions collected by CFC-O," said Chief Construction Mechanic Mike Robb, a native of Georgetown, Texas. "The Navy Misawa sailors and their families here raised more than 25 percent than last year, and contributions came from a smaller pool of donors. I'm happy that our unit coordinators went beyond what their initial mandate was to help achieve that result."
Unit coordinators from each Navy Misawa command took on the role of reaching out to sailors to collect contributions.
"My role as one of the unit coordinators was to make sure that each person at my command were afforded the opportunity to contribute to the 2013 CFC-O campaign," said Operations Specialist 1st Class Eric Tan, originally from Las Vegas. "This is more than just a piece of advice, I personally feel that no matter how small a contribution is, there is someone out there that can benefit from it."
As of Dec. 6, CFC-O raised more than 10 million dollars this year. Although sailors are no longer able to submit physical pledges, there are options available online at the CFC website and through MyPay until no later than January 2014.
"Even one American dollar is about equal to a day's worth of food in Thailand or the Sudan,” said Robb. “I highly encourage sailors to look within themselves to donate. Every little bit helps.”