CAPE MAY, N.J. – Local Coast Guardsmen serve the Nation every day both locally and globally, but there’s a group of professionals who protect those Coast Guardsmen’s most precious possessions, their children, while they protect the coast.  

The 22-person staff of the Child Development Center aboard Coast Guard Training Center Cape May watches over more than 83 children daily while their parents do everything from drive ships to train recruits. While 90 percent of the children in the CDC have Coast Guard parents, other U.S. armed and uniformed services are represented here including the Army, Air Force, National Guard and Public Health Service.

“How can you serve your country if you aren’t sure your children are being taken care of,” said Kathi Getka, the Director of the CDC. “We take this responsibility and duty very seriously.”

According to the Military Child Education Coalition, military children generally move six to nine times during their K-12 school years, and the variances in educational programs, separation from a deployed family member and frequent moves can cause frustration and anxiety in military children.

Getka says the program at the CDC is developed to give children a head start to counter act the instability in a military family’s life.

“When our children leave here they have more than their basic readiness skills, many of them usually excel,” says Getka. “The Creative Curriculum we follow here is widely respected among child care professionals nationwide, and we have a comprehensive training and professional development program for our staff.”

The CDC cares for children ranging from six-weeks to four-years old providing multiple activities and opportunities for development. Children make movies, play on child friendly computers, learn on a touch-responsive whiteboard and much more.

“They are very flexible and conducive to the military lifestyle because they will tailor their hours around a demanding military work schedule,” says Petty Officer 2^ndClass Mary Hoy, who works aboard Training Center Cape May and has two children attending the CDC. Hoy’s husband Petty Officer 2^nd Class

CAPE MAY, N.J. - Frankie Smith eats lunch with classmates and staff at the Child Development Center aboard Coast Guard Training Center Cape May Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012.

Christopher Hoy is also a Coast Guardsman and works as an air crewman and aviation electronics technician at Air Station Atlantic City, N.J.

Hoy also says the structured learning environment and staff have helped her children excel both verbally and socially. She says with each class her children improve in a variety of different skills and developmental areas.

Military children are not the only ones benefiting from the CDC’s advanced curriculum and highly-trained staff. Several members of the community also have children enrolled at the center, which is also open to the public. For more information about the CDC, please click here or call 609-898-6921/20.

NOTE: Members of the media are welcome to tour the CDC, meet the staff and talk with some of the parents. Please contact Donnie Brzuska at 609-898-6362 for more information or to schedule.  Please click on the thumbnails to download the photos featured in this release.

South Jersey families host military for Thanksgiving

Contact: 
Donnie Brzuska
O: 609-898-6362
C: 443-365-1344
E: donnie.c.brzuska@uscg.mil 

CAPE MAY, N.J. – More than 220 recruits from Coast Guard Training Center Cape May had Thanksgiving dinner with 92 families in Southern New Jersey as part of Operation Fireside Thursday.

Families eager to host recruits lined up outside of Coast Guard Guardian Chapel aboard Training Center Cape May where they were met by representatives from the American Red Cross and Coast Guard chaplains. The Southern Shore Chapter of the American Red Cross coordinates the community’s involvement in Operation Fireside. 

“(It feels) fantastic to be involved in Operation Fireside,” said Donna Croskey, the Operation Fireside coordinator for the Red Cross. “It's a gift that I can give back to the military and the community.” 

Since 1981, Operation Fireside has placed thousands of recruits with South Jersey families during the holiday season. Coast Guard Training Center Cape May can have up to 600 recruits training at any given time from all 50 states and U.S. territories. Operation Fireside allows the recruits to celebrate the holiday with their host family while they’re separated from their loved ones during training.

“This is one of the best ways the community can give back to the military,” said Cmdr. Miles Barrett, the chaplain for Training Center Cape May. “It shows the most junior and newest military members that people care about them and their missions.”

The families walked into Guardian Chapel where the recruits were seated straight up with their eyes dead ahead waiting quietly for their host families to arrive. Company commanders paced the halls to ensure the recruits maintain military bearing up to the moment they left with their host family. Many people pick up the recruits in the family car, and others go the less conventional route.

Dr. Jim Kauffman arrived to Guardian Chapel with a stretch limousine and representatives from the Atlantic County Toys for Kids Program. Eight recruits piled into the limo and were led by police escort through Somers Point, N.J., to Kauffman’s home in Vineland, N.J. Kauffman’s wife, April, was waiting for the recruits when they arrived with trays of food, computers and phones to call home.

“What better way to show your appreciation for people who serve than to give them a great meal, give them shelter for the day, some TV, a computer and a chance to call home,” said April Kauffman.

The home office at the Kauffman’s was buzzing with recruits calling family and friends, emailing girlfriends, and devouring candy. The young men who were marching in formation and preparing for service in the U.S. Coast Guard just hours earlier were now enjoying Thanksgiving in a warm and welcoming home. If it weren’t for the uniforms and the short hair cuts, an outsider could believe the young men lived with the Kauffmans. The recruitswere grateful for the hospitality and a break from training.

“I’m just really looking forward to having the day off and getting to hang out with some really awesome people,” said Seaman Recruit Michael Mehr, a recruit in basic training. “I’m really appreciative for what I’m getting because I know a lot of people aren’t gifted with this.”

The recruits are required to report back to Training Center Cape May Thursday at 8 p.m. However, according to Croskey, many of the host families attend the recruits’ graduation ceremonies and stay in touch long after boot camp.

Training Center Cape May is the Coast Guard’s only enlisted basic training program, and more than 83 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 skills. Most graduates from Training Center Cape May will be conducting front-line Coast Guard missions within a week of graduation.

Please click on the thumbnails above to download high-resolution copies of the photos, or please click here to download b-roll from the event. The interviewees appear in the following order: 

• Donna Croskey, Operation Fireside coordinator for the Red Cross Southern Shore Chapter
  
  
•  April Kauffman, Operation Fireside volunteer of 10 years
  
  
•  Seaman Recruit Michael Mehr, a recruit in basic training